Diaries of a Writer
by snowkonequeen
Summary: When 16 year old Writer, Nina, is asked to write Sora's story, can she really grow up to be a hero? Can one person change someone for the better? (SoraxOC)
1. Chapter 1

I got a letter today. A letter that made my heart pound and my palms sweat. The letter had a seal on it, that of the King. I nearly dropped out of my seat in excitement. I would see him again. He was ok. Thank goodness. I wasn't prepared for any of this. And mostly when I had let go, he always finds me. I grabbed my bag filled with pens and paper and quickly left my house. I was about to board the only train that went to nowhere. Or so the common folk thought. This magical train would take me back to him. I was ready. As I stepped aboard, feelings washed over me like I hadn't expected. "Don't excite yourself too much, you might burst," I told myself. I smiled as I took a seat and looked out the window. Today was the day.

XxxxxxX

I am a novelist. Ok, a novelist is stretching it. A novelist is when someone is a best seller and manages to gain a fandom or 2. No I am not a novelist. Let's say writer. Yes, I am a writer. I write 7 days a week, at least 10 hours a day. Now I know that seems like a lot, but you have to believe me when I say I love my job.

I go to school, come home and put on a new outfit and run out of the house like mad. I am always searching for the latest scoop. But here in my little Twilight Town, there isn't much going on. I write for my job for 4 hours a day, and write my novel for 6. I am supporting myself. The books I write are enough to get me through for a few months, but the bigger picture always makes me nervous. I am really trying, for my own sake.

I am 16. And yes I am serious. Supporting myself 24/7 has been something I have been doing for a long time; since I was about 14, when my world was sucked away from me into the abyss. Let me explain myself.

When I was younger, I lived with my loving and doting parents. They were a little wealthier than other families. But that didn't mean I didn't grow up well. I was given only what I was needed. I started writing at 9 and making up stories and telling them to myself as I walked home from school. I loved my parents. And I miss them every day. I don't know where they are right now. I hope they are ok and didn't just up and have another kid to love and dote over. The thought made me chuckle as I left school. I was in a hurry to get home. I had to get into my 2nd uniform and go to work. I work for a small newspaper, the Daily Light. Catchy name right? It's the only newspaper in Twilight town for over 30 years. I wasn't even a twinkle in my daddy's eye when this place was made.

When my world was sucked away, and I mean, literally sucked away, I was left in Twilight town. With no way of knowing how I got there. I woke up in the middle of the night (at 14 by the way) to my room being surrounded by darkness. And I when I say darkness, I mean the world literally disappeared from view on me. The light was gone. And at 14, it was surreal. Somedays I wonder if I didn't just dream up my home and parents. And I wasn't just always all alone in Twilight town. But I have to shake my head and realize it happened. It was a thing. It was over. And now here I am. I sat down in the Daily Light at my desk, unable to realize when I stopped thinking. I looked over my coworkers and just slumped back in my chair, thinking about my next novel. I had just finished my last one and sent it off to be published. But now I have a load of free time to think up a new one. My next one, the biggest one I hope, is going to be about an adventure. I can just feel it in my soul. But the problem I faced: I have never truly left Twilight Town. When I think of the places I've been, I've been home (and I can't remember what that place was called. It's like the word was sucked away with it), and I've been here in Twilight town. So today was about to get really strange for that notion.

I dragged myself out of the office and out to look for a scoop. Something that would make my day better. Quickly I headed to the square and was just observing the townsfolk. No one was saying or doing anything interesting. I went down to the sandlot, and observed Seifer and his gang doing a pushup contest. I wanted to avoid them, so I walked away with my hat over my eyes. I walked up the road to the area in between the buildings that was open, nothing. No one was saying anything. So much for my paycheck today... I decided to walk up the hill and get ready to go home. Out of nowhere someone pushed past me. A light touch came before a shove and suddenly I was on the ground, my papers from my back scattered, my pen's caps all missing. I picked myself up and saw the hand of a person I didn't know. It was someone I literally had never seen in town.

"I am so sorry." I looked up and was looking into the blue eyes of a young man. He held out a hand to me, but I was so stuck in his eyes that I picked myself up without ever taking my eyes off him.

"Let me help you." He said, as he started picking up my papers. Quickly I noticed that I was still staring, and began to pick up everything.

"Let me guess, you run into people often?" I said awkwardly. My head wasn't right at that point. I was embarrassed.

The man smiled an awkward smile back at me. "I try not to," he held the papers out to me. "Here, I didn't mean it. I hope you aren't hurt."

I took the papers with a shaking hand. What's wrong with me? Why am I suddenly quiet? The cocky girl that I usually am is gone and in place is this shy little thing. Maybe its because my outfit was so ugly, maybe because I lost my hat at some point in this excursion. I looked down to notice it sitting off to the side.

"Well if you are ok, I hope you have a nice day...doing what you are doing." He said. And as quickly as he had come, he had left. It wasn't too long after that I noticed that he had 2 traveling companions. Ones I wouldn't have expected. One was a dog, a huge dog. And the other was a duck who was out of the normal size range for any species I had ever seen. Both were wearing clothes, both were walking on 2 legs, both were talking to the boy as they left. My mind was blown.

Suddenly, my intuition kicked in. I had to follow them. I mean, this was weird. REALLY weird. I need to get the scoop on it. I rushed up the hill after them; they were heading towards the train station. I stayed a good distance back. I didn't want them to know I was following them.

As I neared the top of the hill, they were about to walk to the station, when suddenly, a bunch of white...humans? I wasn't sure what they were. They were shorter than the man, but they didn't look like people. They looked like they had zippers for mouths. Ok, so this was turning into a horror movie. What in the world?

The man held his hand out, and out of nowhere, a key appeared in his hand. It looked like a key. I was taking notes the whole time. The group was in combat all of a sudden. I was taking notes, but my eyes were focused on the man in question. Who was he? What was he doing here? Why was he fighting these...things?

I was confused more than anything else. Suddenly, I saw those creatures. They were looking at me. Or at least I think they were, because within a second, I saw a few of them coming at me, one of them grabbed my hand, the other pushed me out into the open. I was freaking out. I swatted at them with my pen. Hoping they were going to let me go was looking to be a distant memory. Was I about to be killed, eaten? What were they? I closed my eyes, prepared for anything, but suddenly, I heard the slashing of a weapon, and a voice calling to me.

"Are you ok?" I heard in my ringing head. I opened my eyes again. I saw the man, he stood in front of me. The creatures were all coming fast, but the boy was...protecting me. I was down on my butt after a moment, hoping that the ring of creatures around me would just vanish, but the boy fell right in front of me. Too many creatures...I was going to die wasn't I?

I closed my eyes again, preparing for impact, but it never came. I opened one eye, and a...mouse...was fighting them off. The boy looked shocked. And the group was even more stunned then I was.

"Your Majesty?" The duck asked this person before me. The mouse put a finger to his lips and shooshed the group. Never have I heard the world so quiet.

"You have to leave town now. The train knows the way." He said. The boy got up quicker than anything. He walked over the person and he handed him a bag. The bag was pretty, too pretty for a boy to be carrying around.

I looked up, confused. My notes were torn. My pen was destroyed and leaking ink. I felt miserable in a second. All that work, and for what? Nothing. Now how would I face the crew? I was so nervous.

Suddenly, a hand was in front of me. It felt like déjà vu. I looked up, and once again, I found myself in the eyes of the man. This time, I managed to grab his hand. He lifted me up. He was stronger than anything I had ever seen. I wasn't exactly the skinniest girl in the world, but it was no problem for him.

"Are you alright?" he asked, never letting go of my hand.

"Umm, yeah, I think so, except my work." I suddenly realized I shouldn't have said that. My work, or the fact that I stalked them to the train station.

He studied my hand, now covered in black, the papers he instantly grabbed. He started reading. I was mortified. Why would he do this? Did he want to embarrass me? But wait...is he...smirking?

"Next time, feel free to just tell us you want to observe us." He handed the papers back to me. "It will save you the hassle of being attacked by those things..."

I felt my face go hot. I NEVER get embarrassed. What the hell did this kid do to me?

"Sora, we gotta go." The duck said to the boy. He turned his head. He suddenly got a puzzled look on his face.

"Wait one second, Donald." He said. He looked to me and whispered, "You can write...I've always wanted a story written about me."

I looked at him. Where was he going with this? I just wanted to go home and hide. "Umm, ok? So what do you want me to write?" I didn't even know why I asked.

"Hmm..." he put a smile on his face as he thought. "I have to introduce you to someone. Hey Jiminy."

A little...thing popped out of his jacket. It was green. That's all I could think of. "What's going on, Sora."

So this boy's name is Sora...I wonder if that's short for something. My name is 4 letters too. But I didn't know.

"This girl is a writer, maybe you can collaborate." I looked shocked. I couldn't fight. I couldn't do anything like that. But suddenly, this guy wants me to write about him?

The thing looked at him. "Are you sure? My journal is completely empty."

"We can write a new story." Sora looked at me. "Let's have her write it."

I didn't even get a chance to refuse. He grabbed my arm and pulled me towards the group. The duck and the dog exchanged confused glances. You're kidding me...I am doing this.

"I have to introduce you guys." He said to them. "This is...umm..." He looked to me.

"Nina." I said, looking at my feet. My normal attitude was gone. I was replaced with someone who was unable to speak. What's going on? Who are these people?

"I want her to write a story. About our adventures." He smiled confidently at them. The rest of the group didn't even have a chance to speak, their faces said it all.

The duck looked skeptical. "Can she fight?" He asked.

"Of course I can." I said out loud. My mouth had no filter. I could have just said no. Then I could go back to daily life. But something about an adventure...it would be perfect for my next novel. Wait. What am I saying? I am just going to drop my life and go on an adventure? But thinking even closer about it, what did I have here? A job, school and a life alone. Those things could be omitted. I haven't really had any friends for a long time. So maybe...

The boy looked at me. "If you think you have it in you, we have a train waiting for us."

I looked down at my clothes...I felt embarrassed. Grey suit and...did I leave my hat on the ground? I wasn't even sure.

"I do..." there was the no filter again.

"Awesome! Well its nice to meet you. I'm Sora and that's Donald and Goofy." He pointed to them respectively. "And you already know Jiminy. He's going to help you get the best information possible."

I smiled weakly. I didn't know what I was doing or what I was about to commit to. But whatever it was, it couldn't have come at a better time.

XxxxxX

"Four please." Sora said at the ticket counter. I was uncomfortable. The least I could have done was felt more comfortable. I was doing something I wouldn't have expected myself to do in a million years. Had I prepared myself more for this moment, I would have felt better. But I wasn't. I was nervous. Stressed to the point I could feel my neck tense.

We started to walk towards the loading station, when suddenly, four kids my age ran up to us.

"Sora, we wanted to see you off." One of them said, folding his arms. "It seemed like the right thing to do."

Sora smiled at this. As the train pulled up, he looked back to them. "Goodbye." He said.

"Sora, are you sure we haven't met before?" Another one of them asked. Sora looked like he had to think about it for a moment.

"Positive, why would you ask?" He asked. I was confused. I had seen these kids before. I knew them from school. And they always hung out in their group of 3. The same boy shrugged. "I dunno."

I looked to Sora, who gave them a smile, but when I blinked, a tear slid down his cheek. I was even more confused. Why was he crying? Did he really not know these kids? I could hear the boy say "Pull it together," as Sora rubbed his eyes clean. He looked quite embarrassed, pulling a cheesy smile at them.

"Right, see ya." He ended it quickly. We all boarded the train, and I took a seat next to...Donald, I think. He was looking out the window. I looked up to Sora, whose look had went from super happy, to monotone and lost. I couldn't help but keep my eye on him.

He held up the bag that he had gotten from that mouse in his hand. "You know...I'm sad."

Donald and Goofy looked at him in a sympathetic way. "We will be back."

"Yeah we can visit Hayner and those guys again." Goofy looked at him with a smile. I smiled back, unsure of what to say.


	2. Chapter 2

The train dropped us off in front of a huge castle. One that towered so high up that I could barely see the top. It sort of glowed amidst the dimensional change that took place. Around us were starry skys and what I assumed to be Aurora Borealis. I couldn't help but feel a sense of excitement and wonder at this new place. With that, Sora and I turned around as the train suddenly vanished into thin air. We turned to look at each other, but neither of us knew what to say to it. I rubbed the back of my neck. Crap.

"There goes our ride..." Sora laughed nervously, breaking the silence. I could barely believe what I was seeing. We didn't take our time. We both followed Donald and Goofy to the castle, both of them stopped in their tracks, seeing a huge...cat? I didn't know what to make of it, but I was no longer questioning anything, seeing as how I was following a huge duck and dog around. With a crack of my neck and knuckles, I straightened my skirt as we walked towards the stairs.

"What's going on?" Donald asked the cat, who laughed an almost evil laugh in return. Another talking animal. Another animal wearing clothes. I really had seen it all today.

"Ho Ho, I sent some of my lackies inside to find out if the master of this castle is as big and strong as they say." He didn't even turn to look at us. I was now starting to find my heel shoes very uncomfortable. I turned to look at Sora, who had an also puzzled look on his face.

"Once he's a heartless, he will do as I say." the cat was still not turning around. This guy was a bumbling idiot. I could barely make out what I was thinking at this point. I wanted to just say something like I had seen in old cartoons. Something cheesy and stupid to the amount of cheese this guy was spilling.

Sora and the gang were taken aback by the cats statement. "A heartless?!" Donald exclaimed.

"That's right, their the things that come out of the darkness of peoples hearts." He explained, in terms that I was beginning to understand. So were those things in Twilight Town called 'heartless'? It was unclear and barely made any sense to me.

"You oughta find something nicer to do." Goofy said, in a slightly mocking tone.

"Oh says who?" The cat FINALLY turned to face us. With sudden shock on his face, he started stuttering, "It's you!"

"Pete?" Donald and Goofy both said at the same time, the was on all of their faces, but Sora seemed just as lost as I was. I am glad for that too or I'd feel like the biggest moron alive.

"You know him?" He asked, looking to both of them.

Goofy frowned. "We sure do. Pete's been causing trouble for ages. His Majesty banished him to another dimension a long time ago." Exposition...I couldn't help stare confused at Pete, who looked like he was about to say something stupid, and I just closed my eyes and tried to stay off my feet.

"I am going around to all the different worlds, building an army of heartless, special for her." He said with a smirk.

"Maleficent...huh." I must have missed something because the gang started to laugh. Pete looked offended at this statement.

"Why you, when Maleficent gets here, shes-"

"She's toast." Sora laughed.

"You! It was you who did it." Pete yelled. Sora just put his hands behind his head and smiled. Pete clenched his hands and yelled out, calling out some little black creatures who appeared like shadows from the ground. Sora, Donald and Goofy raised their weapons and suddenly the battle was on. I rushed out of the way, standing near Pete on the stairs. He looked at me, and I could feel his eyes burning the back of my head. Suddenly, the big cat pushed me onto the ground. I felt my heels give way and I ended up on my front in front of some of the black creatures. I closed my eyes, hoping that they wouldn't notice me, and within a second, Sora had bound over to me and swiped them out of my way with the key. I opened my eyes and he held out a hand to me.

"T-thank you." I said, and he helped me up. I suddenly felt my leg give way, noticing one of my shoes had busted the heel.

Pete looked angry at us, beating up his precious lackies. "You just wait, nobody, and I mean NOBODY messes with the Mighty Pete!"

Sora was still holding onto my hand as he looked up. "So, Mighty Pete, who lives in this tower anyways?"

I let go of Sora's hand and he looked at me with a smile that said a million words to me. He looked triumphant.

"You don't know, eh?" Pete smiled bitterly. "Why its old Yen Sid. But hes probably already a heartless by now."

Donald had a momentary freak out and exclaimed, "Master Yen Sid lives here?"

Without another word, he was already bounding up the steps and into the castle, pushing aside the doors. Goofy looked to the both of us. "Master Yen Sid is the King's teacher."

"Sounds powerful." Sora said out loud with awe in his voice. The 2 of them rushed up the steps as well, I looked back to Pete who was having his own mini freak out in the corner of my eye. I kicked my shoes off, grabbed them in my hand and headed up with them.

XxxxxxX

After countless stairs, which I was glad I was not going up in the shoes I was holding, and many MANY heartless later, I found myself at the top of the tower with the gang. We looked at the final remaining door.

"Heartless, heartless, heartless. Things haven't changed one bit." Donald moaned. I looked to Sora, who looked mighty disappointed at those words.

"So the worlds aren't at peace after all?" He asked to himself.

"Well, at least we've made it this far." I said, placing a delicate hand on his shoulder. "Let's go see the Master."

I don't know how I sounded so confident all of a sudden. Was I really considering all of this? I felt like I was missing something though. Like I could assume Sora had had another adventure before this. So I felt like I was lost in a movie that had a different language setting on it. We hadn't exactly known each other long, but I felt like I was trying to piece together the past that Sora and the gang had before me.

Sora offered me a smile and we headed through the door. I was staring around the room. Shocked at how quiet it was considering how many heartless we had seen. I saw Donald and Goofy walk over to the table where an old man in a blue robe and blue hat sat. The 2 of them bowed, and I bowed as well. Not before long did I see Sora was the only one who wasn't.

"Hey there." He said with a smile and a salute.

"Sora, show some respect. Even Nina is bowing." Sora put a hand behind his head with an awkward laugh. I smiled a little, seeing the man, in hand motions, letting them rise.

The man spoke in a deep voice. "So you are Sora."

XxxxxxxX

Heartless and Nobodies.. This was what I was told. One was the darkness in people hearts made real, and the other was the body that was left behind. Some were given the ability to plan and communicate. And these people were called Organization 13. I hadn't heard such a convoluted story in my life. It made me question my reality. It made me question my sanity, and that of those around me. And most of all, it made me wonder why all of this was happening, now, today, at this very moment.

After a long explanation, a little light reading, and a moments worth of noticing both Sora and I needed a change of clothes, Yen Sid looked to the 4 of us and pointed at the door to our right.

"Inside, you'll find three good fairies, who will be able to make you appropriate garments." He cleared his throat.

"Gawrsh, Sora, you really have grown." Goofy taunted him. Sora gave a sheepish laugh, and I just stared on.

"Nina needs it too guys. She's not exactly wearing battle armor." Sora said, looking back to me. I looked down at my modest attire. A suit in gray. And now I was missing both of my shoes. No duh, I wasn't ready for battle. Wait...battle? Does this mean they are going to expect me to fight? Last time I checked, I wasn't a fighter. I barely got away from bullies in school, let alone fighting off monsters in black and white.

The four of us entered the room. "You, me, Nina, Riku and the King." Sora said something to them that I could barely understand, mostly because I was in awe of the room. And I could see three little ladies in different colors. They noticed us and gave very sweet smiles.

"Well look who is is, Sora Donald and Goofy." The one in the color red said. "And a young lady too."

"I'm Nina." I said, waving awkwardly at the fairy. She smiled.

"Oh if you are looking for a change of clothes, you've come to the right place." One in blue started walking towards us. The red one took my hand and the blue one took Sora's. They brought us to the center of the room. With a flick of the wrist, the last one in green turned Sora's outfit green. I smiled with a grin that was sillier than I was expecting.

"That will never do!" the blue one flicked her wand and his outfit turned blue.

Without question, this was the best part of my day. The three fairies fought over the color of Sora's outfit. Each turned it into the color they were respectively. Blue, Green, Red, Blue, Green, Red. I was enjoying it far more than I should have, mainly because of Sora's pained expression. Finally, Sora put his foot down.

"Will you just decide?" He groaned. The fairies were taken aback, but suddenly started laughing.

"Alright, together now, dears." The red fairy said, and the three flicked their wands, and suddenly Sora was enveloped in a light and a fit of sparkles. I looked over to him and suddenly he was wearing an all black and blue outfit with hints of red and yellow buckles and pockets. The fairies were in awe of their work, smiling and exchanging words of happiness at the result. I was pretty shocked too. He looked like a savior. A man who would protect the world. I couldn't imagine my outfit looking nearly as good as he did right then. And my mind wandered. It wandered to what it would be like to be a hero too. But that was sadly a long forgotten goal.

"Now those aren't ordinary garments." The red fairy flicked her wand again and a little yellow ball glowed within an arms reach of him. He held out his hand and took the ball. "Now watch."

Sora was lifted into the air and the sound of glass shattering hit my ears. Suddenly, he was in a red version of his outfit and he held a key in both hands.

"Wow...two Keyblades." Goofy said. I finally had a name to the weapon. A keyblade.

The fairies and Sora exchanged words before looking back to me.

"Can we skip the color changing and get to where I get a really cool outfit?" I asked, half jokingly. The fairies smiled and flicked their wrists again, and a light enveloped over me. I felt my clothes changing in the light, and I myself was sparkling when I came out. My outfit was simpler than Sora's. I work a green and black striped shirt with a suit of what felt like heavy armor over my chest. And it was. It covered my chest and heart, probably so I didn't lose it, like Yen Sid had said if I gave into the darkness. I wore blue jean shorts and long socks that went into the same green color of shoes as my shirt.

"You look great!" Sora said, placing a hand on my head and rubbing my now messy hair. I slapped at his hand with a smile.

"You'll pay for that, you spiky weirdo." I smiled with an evil look in my eyes. He didn't look the least bit intimidated, but I wasn't trying to be.

"Thanks a lot, ladies." Sora and I said to them. The ladies waved as we left. With that last goodbye, we exited the room and went back to speak to Yen Sid. He looked out the window where an orange and yellow...space ship...was? I didn't know what was real anymore.

Out of the conversation they were having, I understood little. But they were confused when he said that the pathways between worlds were disconnected. And they all looked disappointed. But he told them to fear not, that new paths would be formed.

The gang saluted the man, and I bowed to him in respect. After, we headed out.

As the four of us entered the ship, I saw that the cockpit and the 2 captains chairs were taken. There were no extra seats, so I looked confused. Sora smiled and got out of his chair. "Have mine."

"But you need a seatbelt too." I said. He shook his head.

"I'll be fine, its more important that the lady stays safe for take off." he wasn't about to argue this fact and honestly, neither was I. I strapped myself in and Sora took a seat on the floor. I felt worried he'd hit his head, but that was quickly dispelled when the ship didn't take a bumpy take off.

Within a few moments, Goofy and Sora were on their feet. Sora looked at me with a smile. I quickly unbuckled myself and he asked me to follow him.

He looked around the Gummi Ship, it was much bigger on the inside than it seemed. There was a hall of a few rooms and a kitchen at the end of the hall. Sora ducked in and out of rooms and I just peered in each. Sora found his room pretty quickly. But there were 3 bedrooms, 3 people, and one me. I felt pretty left out. They must not have expected a guest to be onboard.

"Hey Nina." Sora tapped me on the shoulder as I was making my way back to the cockpit to talk to Donald about where I'd stay. "You'll be bunking with me."

"I'll what?" I asked confused.

"I'm pretty sure Donald and Goofy wouldn't want you to bunk with them, so I'll take the chance and ask you to stay with me."

I was utterly confused by this gesture. But I would take it over finding out what a duck and dog slept like. It would be more comfortable sleeping with another human being anyways.

"So help me god, if you super snore." I teased. He looked shocked.

"I do not!" He said, rubbing the top of my head hard and messing with my hair again.

I smirked at him. "One day, my boy, I will get you back."

He laughed a little. "I look forward to seeing that day."

With that, I walked into Sora's bedroom. He wasn't really settled in at all. The room was pretty barren except for the bed and a chair in the corner with a desk that was the same color as the floor, an orange-ish brown.

"Are we...?" I asked, pointing to the bed.

"I have to say yes for now." He said, running a hand through his hair. "Until I can get another bed in here."

I nodded, unsure of what to say at this point. I was confused. What was going on with today? Why did I suddenly feel a sense of insecurity? I never felt this way before. So why now of all things? I still could joke around and be the same Nina I always am, but I felt stick in an interesting place in my mind. One that told me I was going to be sleeping in the same bed as a boy tonight. And I couldn't help but wonder just how that would go.


	3. Chapter 3

It felt like I had been settled in for a whole 5 minutes, laying on Sora's bed curled up in a tight ball, when the tall brunette started poking my back. I hadn't slept in what felt like days, but it wasn't nearly that long. He kept poking me until I finally rolled over and poked his arm. He looked surprised by this gesture, but I was feeling slightly annoyed.

"May I help you?" I asked, a frown was apparently on my face, but he looked up in the air, thinking for a moment. He closed his eyes and opened them again to look into me. He looked very concerned.

"Do you know how to fight, honestly?" He questioned. I had one thing to say about that.

"Well the pen is mightier than the sword." I felt myself smile at my own joke. But he wasn't really as amused as I was.

"No I mean do you seriously know how to fight something."

I looked at him with a deadpan stare. "No, I really don't."

He looked like he had just realized a big question and answer. I hadn't even thought that I had told him I could fight earlier. I just pushed myself into a gigantic hole with my story. Now what would he think of me? Within a moment, he was on his feet and held his hand out to me. "Come with me, we are gonna do something about that." I took his hand, yet again, and he put his shoes on and dashed out of the room. I stretched and let my back pop before getting up. Man, I was super tired. Like more tired than usual. Maybe it was crossing dimensions or maybe it was homesickness. I wasn't sure which it was more. But a thought came to mind. 'If we are going to different worlds, and all the worlds are back where they belong...If what Yen Sid said is correct, maybe I'll be able to go home and see my parents.'

That thought rang in my head loud and clear. Maybe I was exactly where I was meant to be. I was slightly excited by this. Maybe it'll appear on the map and maybe they can drop me off at home and I will be able to continue my life where it left off. And then Sora, Donald, Goofy and I could pass off as unlikely friends and move on with our lives.

"Nina, if you keep me waiting, I'm gonna drag you down here." I heard Sora say from the doorframe. He stared me down as I collected myself, threw on my shoes and rushed out the door behind him.

'Think about your parents, and that's what will get you through.' I thought. It seemed like I could really do it this time.

XxxxxX

I was taken downstairs. Still definitely bigger inside than out. Down the stairs, there was a room full of training gear. The room felt well ventilated, because I could feel a draft. And there were an array of weapons on the shelves, ripe for the picking. I looked back over the room to stare at Sora, who waited for me against the wall next to the shelves.

"What is your favorite thing to fight with?" Sora asked. He obviously forgot that I had never fought before. I didn't know what weapon was best. He held out his hand and his Keyblade appeared. He looked me in the eyes, but I couldn't help but think how much that might be a weapon I could use.

I smirked. "Where do I get one of those cool weapons?" I pointed to the Keyblade and he looked down, slightly confused.

"I don't even know where I got it from." He said. He couldn't take his eyes off it as he swung it around with one hand. I felt bad for asking now. He seemed ready to train though.

So I looked on the shelves. There were many weapons, one handed, two handed, maces and swords, shields and armor. One thing caught my eye though as I passed it. It was a spear. A spear that was calling my name. I had never used one before, and I was pretty sure this training session would hurt afterwards, but I though that speed and distance was what I would treasure most out of all fighting. So I picked the spear up and held it in my hands. It was lighter than a sword. And the tip was super sharp. I felt like it would poke me and I would probably bleed. Perfect for fighting heartless.

"I've decided." I said. Taking the spear in both hands and jabbing the air. Sora looked to me with a smile. He came up behind me and fixed where I was holding my spear with his hands. My heart suddenly beat a little faster at the action. What in the world?

"I foresee good things with you using that." He said.

I laughed a little. "I'm pretty sure you would have said that with any weapon I chose."

"Probably." He grinned. He led me to the middle of the room. "Now I want to test your speed and strength."

I remember from movies, people would always get into fighting stances before they would go into battle. So I quickly bent down, knees bent, so that I was closer to the ground. I felt very uncomfortable in this position. Sora looked a little confused and walked over to me.

"You don't have to be so close to the floor." He said, fixing my posture and showing me where my knees should bend at. I don't know why, but having him touch me sent a shiver down my spine. I don't know if he felt it, but I sure did. I wasn't sure why, but I was ready to go when he walked over to the other side.

"Come at me." He said, his keyblade at the ready. I moved, and started to charge. But, with ease, he moved away. I looked back at him, feeling my spear hit the ground, flinging me over it and into a pile of armor. And it caught me by surprised and I felt a pain hit me. I looked at him, an angry look came to my face.

He laughed a little. Hand held out, he pulled me up. "We will work on that."

I blew the hair out of my face. Why was he so smug about this? He moved into the position I was in and started showing me some pointers on how to maneuver when in that pose.

"And when you are in your fighting stance, you can block and swipe." He showed me where aim for, at the heel. I looked at him, understanding a bit more of what to do. He got back to his pose, and started to come at me. I blocked his oncoming Keyblade and swiped along the ground and caused him to lose his balance. He didn't fall, but I started to feel triumphant. I couldn't help but grin at him. He walked over to me.

"You're already improving." He held out his hand and looked me in the eyes. "Way to go, Nina."

I high fived him. "Well its obvious the trainer I have isn't so bad." He looked slightly offended, but couldn't stop smiling anyways. Man, he was just full of life, and it showed in the way he reacted to everything.

"Just another 2 years and you'll be as good as me." He was holding back a laugh.

I had placed my spear back on the shelf, but he held out a hand to stop me. "Its your weapon now. You fight with it."

I felt a little nervous as I took it back down. But I wasn't nearly as nervous as I was when I took it down the first time. I had hope for this weapon, and hoped it would help me through the worst times. I had to think that it would, or else I wouldn't be this confident in myself.

"I have a question. Miss Nina, have you thought of a start for my story." He looked at me with eager eyes. I had nearly forgotten the reason he brought me with him in the first place. He wanted me to write a story about his life. A biography? What do you call it when you are only writing about one adventure? I wanted to say no, but...

"Of course." There was the filter again. "I just have to get writing soon."

"Well, everyone is probably going to be awake in a few hours, we can get you together with Jiminy and you guys can start it up."

He held out his hand one last time, and I high fived him again. At this point, I couldn't have imagined being at home, in my little town, waking up in the morning to go to school. That part of my life was long gone now. I felt like this was the start of something amazing. Something I couldn't have guessed.

XxxxxX

"...Cataclysm..." I wrote it down on a piece of paper.

Jiminy looked at me confused. "What does that mean?"

I gaped at him. "You have no idea what a cataclysm is?"

He looked embarrassed. I smiled. "Well Mister-Know-it-all-conscience, It means a large scale disaster." He was hanging on my words.

"I didn't realize there was a word for that." He looked down at the paper. "You might wanna put the part where we woke up too."

I was writing faster than I usually did. My papers were flying, and with Jiminy's help, we were already a chapter through. The first chapter was where I wasn't there. When they first woke up in Twilight Town. And it continued on to the train station, where they saved me. I was asking questions and getting answers. And before I knew it, I was pretty much up to the point we were at now, flying in the Gummi ship to our next destination. Who knew where that would be? I almost wanted to take a break. But I was so close to being done for the day.

The door suddenly sprang open and in tumbled Sora, who I was shocked to see, but at the same time, I knew he wouldn't stay away. I put on my best shocked face.

"Sora! Where you listening in on us?" I gave him a stern look. He looked worried.

"Who me? No, never! I just..." His words trailed off. I couldn't hold a serious face for the boy and started to smile. And suddenly he got the jist and started laughing too.

"Well sir, if you are really curious about my writing, you can do this." I pulled out a red pen and held out the first 2 chapters.

"What do you want me to-" I cut him off pretty quickly.

"If you really wanna read, I want you to proof it too." He looked confused. Not sure why I gave him a red pen in the first place. I sighed, rubbing my tired eyes.

"If you see an error, or you think something needs to be fixed, mark it in red and hand it back to me and I will fix it." I smiled at him. He looked like he had had an epiphany. Now understanding, he quickly took the papers out of my hand and began to read. His eyes trailed through, and as he did, I got up and stretched. Me and Jiminy had been sitting there for quite a while.

I looked out the window of the Gummi ship and saw space. Space and time as it flew by. Chunks of astroids and little planets and stars in the distance. Had you told me yesterday where I'd be today, I would have laughed.

I walked out, leaving Sora to his papers, walking out to the cockpit to see Donald sitting at the desk.

"May I ask a..." I looked at him, but he didn't even look at me.

"I don't like being lied to." He said.

"I...lied?" I asked. He now looked me in the eye. His eyes were HUGE. And it was intimidating. I knew exactly what he meant, but I had hoped he hadn't heard that part of the conversation we had in the night.

He stopped what he was doing. "You didn't know how to fight. You should have just told us you couldn't do it and we would have left you there and you could have-"

"I CAN fight." I said. He stopped, taken aback by the forcefulness of my voice.

"This better not be another lie." He whispered, rubbing his also tired face. He was onto me. But now that I had the basics of fighting down, I knew I could master it in no time.

"I'd also like to learn some magic, if I can." I breathed out hard as I said it. He looked at me, dumbfounded.

"Well, when we get to where we are going, I can see if you have the ability." Donald turned back to the desk. I looked on the map. It was glowing and a huge section was blocked off. Things were blinking on the table, things were shaking and moving. I questioned whether we were hitting things or not. The ship seemed to moving pretty quickly to our next destination.

"Where are we going anyways?" I asked. He pointed to a little part of the map.

"Hollow Bastion." I looked at the screen and saw only one area was even opened up. And we were really close to it. I turned to head back to the room.

"And Nina?" Donald called out again. I turned around quickly. "If you tell another lie, or make Sora sad, we will drop you off and you'll be back in Twilight Town before you know it."

Another lie? What would I lie about? And make...Sora...sad? When did he expect me to do this? What did he have in mind? And Twilight Town...

Little did I know, Twilight Town disappeared off the map, and I wouldn't see it again for a long time.

Xxxxxx

When we stepped off the ship, I looked around at the little square of the town.

"We need to buy a few things for the ship." Donald told Sora. He handed Sora a small bag of money. "Meet us back here shortly."

Donald and Goofy walked off in the opposite direction of us. Me and Sora looked around. The shops were quiet and small.

"Wanna get a few things for you?" He asked. I looked at him confused.

"Me?" He grinned, I'm pretty sure he had planned on asking me this earlier, but I wasn't prepared for that question.

"Well we did leave abruptly, do you need a change of clothes or something?" He obviously wasn't good about talking with a girl about her needs. Or maybe this awkwardness was just his way of doing it. But I wasn't about to opt out of free stuff.

We walked up to each of the stores, an armory, a shop with weapons, and a store for potions and concoctions. I saw new things all over the place. It was a real treat for a girl who had never left her quiet little town.

I walked over to a booth and saw a bracelet that had my name written all over it. It was sparkly and held a little green pendant. "That, I want that." I said to him.

Sora peered his head over it and saw it. "It'll help you with your magic too. Once you learn some, it'll be easier to do."

We bought the bracelet and with a failed attempt, tried to get it on. I can't do everything by myself I guess. Sora saw my struggled and with a steady hand, clasped the new jewelry on my wrist. I looked up and suddenly he was looking me in the eyes.

"Ah, young love..." The owner of the store said, staring at us. Not even a second later and we were standing at arms length of each other. I never understood why people said that. Did Sora and I really look like a couple? I mean I know he just bought me a bracelet, but it wasn't a gift or anything.

I was overthinking was the last thing I could think of before Donald and Goofy joined us. "Young love, huh?" Goofy asked with a smirk. I couldn't help but laugh nervously at the thought. Me and Sora? Why would anything like that ever happen?

"You...heard that?" Sora asked, and his cheeks and ears turned red. I was suddenly at a confused loss. I had never had a man blush over me. But it probably wasn't even over me either. It was probably at the thought of being a 'couple' with a girl he had only known for a day or 2.

"What a weird old man." I whispered to the group as we walked away. Sora was still glowing red. God, get over it man...


	4. Chapter 4

Sora and the gang rushed ahead of me. As we made our way down a flight of steps, we were stopped in confusion, nearly blowing me into the back of Donald's head. Sora noticed a...ball...or something that lit up and it was bouncing about on the ground. We all looked up as a girl called up to us.

"That's the towns defense mechanism." She said cheerfully.

"Yuffie!" Sora waved up at her. She waved back, but suddenly was taken aback as a group of heartless surrounded us. Sora gave me a look, one that said "show me what you can do". I nodded to him and the group started to attack at the creatures. I did exactly as Sora told me. Block and swipe. The first heartless went down like a breeze. The second one did after, and the third, and the fourth. I realized Sora watched me mow down the last one. He shot me a grin and a thumbs up, which I happily took. I could do it. I can defend myself. Not the greatest fighter, but definitely one I can be proud of. I know that was just small fry, but it gave me hope.

Donald looked to me and then whispered something to Sora. I couldn't hear it, but Sora smiled like an idiot at it. The young lady from atop the building jumped down to join us.

"I see you're still in top form." She said. She looked over to me and I could tell she was inspecting me. "I've never seen you before, you new to Hollow Bastion?"

I held out my hand. "I'm Nina, I'm a traveling writer." She didn't take my hand but she smiled sweetly. I almost felt bad putting my hand out. Maybe in this world, they don't do it that way. But nonetheless, I smiled.

"She's a cute one." Yuffie said, whispering, but loud enough so I could hear it.

"Yeah, she I-" Sora was stopped in his tracks, not paying attention to her words. "I-I mean she's a great fighter and she is a cool person to have in the group." I was now smiling bigger. Sora's words didn't lie. I could tell he thought I was cute. I could have been told that several hours ago. But What got me is that he actually thought I didn't realize it. But the problem was, if we did go our separate ways in the end, where would that lead us?

Maybe I was overthinking myself. I couldn't honestly lie about anything, from far away, Sora was my kinda guy. Tall, lanky, awkward and sweet. It was strange that this even occurred to me. I wasn't trying to get a date with him. I was trying to write his story. So I decided to keep it at that. I am doing this as a favor and things will end more comfortably that way.

I had missed a chunk of the conversation because Sora was calling to me. "We are heading over to meet our friends!" I quickly rejoined the group. But as we kept going, heartless kept joining up with us as well. We all took our swings and brought them down. I started feeling more confident in myself. Sora walked over to me and whispered into my ear "You are a natural, you've got this."

Those words sent me skyrocketing. But I couldn't put a word as to why. But I wasn't about to let that bother me.

XxxxxX

We met the Restoration Committee. Another young lady dressed in pink, a gentleman with blonde hair, blonder than mine, and a man with a scar across his face. When we entered, everyone was shocked to see Sora and the group.

"I knew it." The man with the scar said rather happily for a man who had to be in his late 20s.

Sora and the others looked awfully confused. "Knew what?"

"Everyone remembered you at the same time." He said. It took the group a second before they understood the implications of what he said.

Sora sounded extrememly offended at them. "Does that mean you forgot about us?"

The group chatted a bit about where they were, I wasn't really listening since I already had heard the story from Jiminy. Suddenly something perked my ears.

"We are trying to find Riku and the King." Sora had pleading eyes. Who was this Riku? This was the first time I had heard of this person. Then again, Sora and I really didn't get to know each other too personally in the short period of time we knew each other. He asked if they had seen this person, and the group shook their heads. Sora sighed a defeated sigh and looked over to me. I was feeling particularly curious about these people. Riku, he was a friend of Sora's...or was he an acquaintance. I was trying to piece together the story again. I was into Mysteries, and this one was a huge one.

I heard among the conversation that Hollow Bastion was in the midst of a huge problem with heartless and nobodies. And they asked Sora and the group to help out. I felt glanced over, when Sora brought me to the front of the group.

"Sure thing, and we have a new friend here to help us out." He smiled. I smiled confidently at the group, even though on the inside I felt rather timid. 

" My name is Nina." I said. "And you guys are...?"

The group realized they hadn't introduced themselves to me yet and they took their time to name themselves off. Aerith, Cid, and Leon. It was a pleasure to meet them, and I felt safe in their company.

Leon was quick to get to the door. "Follow me to the bailey, there is something I need to show you."

The group and I nodded to the remaining 2 members, but before we could take a step out the door, a man in a blue hat and coat stood before us. He arrived in a puff of smoke and sparkles. I was shocked that could actually happen.

"It's Merlin!" Donald exclaimed.

Merlin? As in the great Wizard Merlin? That one? I had heard stories, but they were only that, stories. But to have the man himself in front of me, I was honored.

"Sora and the gang are going to help out around here." Yuffie smiled enthusiastically at the wizard.

"We shall count on you then." He looked past us and back to Yuffie. "Did you give them the cards?"

With an embarrassed 'oh!', Aerith pulled out some purple cards from her pocket. She handed them to the four of us with a look of hope.

I read the card. 'Hollow Bastion Restoration Committee Honorary Member'. All that on a little card. It was a sweet gesture. The boys gawked over theirs.

"Thanks Leo..." Sora looked out the door and noticed we were running late. The gang thanked Merlin, but before we went, he handed something to Sora.

"I trust you know how to use it." He said. Sora looked at the orb, peering into it, and with memory, it came to him.

"Blizzard!" He shouted in excitement. "Do you have another one of those?"

My ears perked up.

"Why on earth would you want another one. I think one is plenty." Merlin asked, a confused look dawning on his face.

Sora brought me over to him. "Our newest member wants to try her hand at magic."

Merlin looked me up and down. "And you are, my dear?"

"I'm Nina, I am their writer." I blurted out sheepishly.

Merlin beamed, handing over another thing of Blizzard for me. "Do you know how to use it, dear?"

I blushed. "No...but that doesn't mean I won't learn." I spoke confidently, even though confident was the last thing I was.

We all thanked Merlin and rushed out the door. Before we went any further, Sora looked to me. "Ok, now do you wanna learn a little about magic?"

I nodded vigorously. It honestly couldn't be too difficult, but no one has ever seen me try to use magic, so I was at a slight loss. He brought me over to where heartless were appearing. Donald looked to me, prepared to teach. "All you have to do is project what you feel onto what you want to do magic on."

I wasn't confused, but that sounded like a mouthful. Even as a writer, words sometimes still seem to get me. "Project...what I feel." I said.

I could feel my body tingling with magic as I stared at my heartless of choice. I wanted him to freeze so I could wack him down. I held my breath and called out, "Blizzard!" and I could feel a wave of magic, very small and almost faint come out of my hand. It barely did anything to stop the heartless in its track, in fact it only knocked him back a little.

"Try again Nina." Sora said as he started using Blizzard on the ones that weren't mine. I tried again, calling the word on as I felt the magic tingling in my arms and heart. This time a slightly larger sized ice ball flew from my hand and hit the head of the heartless in question. It was getting bigger, so I decided one more time would do it. "Blizzard!" I yelled out and a ball a little bigger came out and slapped the heartless head down on the pavement. I ran over and stabbed it with my spear and it vanished into thin air.

Sora walked back over to me and ruffled my hair again. "You'll get it. Practice and keep doing it. You might surpass me someday." It really brought a question to my mind. Would I actually need these powers if I went home to my parents? Would I really need to feel this way about magic when I go home? Home. It seemed so far away, but I was really excited to get it worked out. It was going to work out. It had to.

XxxxxX

We made our way to the bailey, thwarting heartless after heartless. We ended up inside the bailey and Leon was waiting in a corner for us. He was overlooking the entirety of the other side of Hollow Bastion. We overlooked the area and when I looked out, I saw a sea of black.

"We want to restore Hollow Bastion to what it use to be." He said. I was still unsure of what I was looking at. "We can handle everything, except for that. And that." I looked out further and could see a bunch of white nobodies coming close as well. It was hard to imagine just how many lost souls there were out there. Hundreds? Thousands? Probably more like hundred thousands. I was scared in that brief moment.

Sora looked to Leon and clenched a fist tight to his chest. "We'll handle em."

We will? Ugh, the moment I didn't realize I was getting myself into trouble, it was until that moment.

"Do you know what's going on?" Leon requested the knowledge. Sora kindly gave him the rundown about Pete and the heartless.

"The ones we really need to look out for, are the nobodies." Sora looked back to me. He could tell I was shaking.

"And those Organization 13 guys too." Goofy chimed in. Suddenly a loud booming voice came from above.

"You called?" the voice said smoothly over the air. We could hear laughter from the peanut gallery as well. "This calls for a celebration."

As quickly as the voice dissipated, we could see Nobodies springing to life around us. Donald and Goofy rushed off down the hill and as Sora and I were about to follow, They appeared behind us and staring Leon down.

"Leon!" I yelled as I hurried to his side. Sora joined us. Leon and Sora barred the gate entering to the town and I held my spear out, swatting the Nobodies away. But I wasn't prepared for the onslaught that was the Nobodies. Heartless, itty bitty heartless, they were nothing, those shadow things, PSSH, I can handle them. Nobodies are a different story. They charge at you with their noodle arms and slap and cut at you. Sora was fighting them off like it was nothing, but me...there were no heels to go after. I felt them wrap around my spear as slap me back onto the ground. I felt panic overcoming me as they starting banging on the door, demanding entry to the town. I grabbed my spear and rushed over the stab them away, but they always came back and hit me. I felt my power draining every time they did it.

Sora rushed over to me and handed me a green fiery looking liquid. "Drink it, you'll gain your strength back."

I didn't need more said, I knocked it back and felt myself recharge instantly. The taste was almost that of a sweet medicine I had drank when I was a kid. It stunned me how well it worked, but I had a job to do, so I would leave deciphering the sweet melody until a later date.

Sora and Leon had vanquished nearly all the foes at hand, as I was trying to just take down one. I stabbed one time and it finally went down. I breathed out hard and heavy. How could he do this regularly. I am so lost and confused right now.

Laughter and taunting ensued as the battle closed, and Sora ran out into the open. "Show yourselves." He yelled out over them. Several cloaked figures arose from a portal of darkness seconds later. Sora stared up at them, angered by just their mere existence (And probably the fact they said the keyblade should be in more capable hands).

"Great, now we can settle this." Sora yelled out to them. The cloaked figures laughed in unison and suddenly started to vanish away. Running away before the fight? Tough guys? Yeah right.

"Stop!" Donald yelled out. I had barely noticed he and Goofy were standing beside us again. He took off running when suddenly, a cloaked figure appeared in front of us, the four of us raised our weapons ready to fight.

Several moments of the boys trying to make the man...thing get out of our way was pointlessly fruited. I finally got sick of him. I never felt this kind of anger towards anything.

"Enough talk!" I called out to him and threw my spear at him. It seemed like my aim was almost perfect. But alas, the man caught it. He threw it to the ground and Sora looked back to me. I wouldn't even look at him.

"You picked a bad day to mess with me, sweet cheeks." He said. "Let me remind you of how tough the crowd your fighting with really is."

"Remind me?" Sora questioned, sudden confusion in his face.

"That's right! He use to give me that exact same look!" The man laughed, almost happily at us.

Sora didn't seem ready to back down though. The group was ready for battle, but the man conjured a portal of darkness and vanished through it. Donald yelled after him, attempting to jump into the portal with him. But he ended up face down on the ground. I looked down, angry at the man's taunting, and the confusion it left all of us in.

"Nuts..." Donald said under his breath. Sora was questioning the whole situation pretty quickly.

"That was weird." He looked at Goofy and then to me. "Who gave him that same look?"

"Whatever he was doing, he couldn't have been speaking anything important." I shrugged, walking over to my spear and picking it up off the ground. It had a trace of darkness left on it, but I wiped it away and headed back over to them.

"Only one me." Sora pointed to himself proudly. He dug into his pocket as Leon rejoined us. He pulled out his membership card and looked at it. I didn't know what happened next. Suddenly the card began to glow, lifting into the air right above our heads. And seconds later, in the sky, appeared a keyhole. With a power I couldn't comprehend, Sora closed the keyhole with his Keyblade. So THAT'S what they are for. I was shocked. But somehow I wasn't surprised at all.

"Now I get it..." Sora looked at his keyblade with a great intent. Leon smirked.

"Sorry to run, Leon, but other worlds are calling." Sora made his keyblade disappear. Leon folded his arms.

"Organization 13, they look tough." He smiled. "Be careful out there."

With that being said, the gang and I headed back to the Gummi ship and were preparing for the next location.


	5. Chapter 5

Donald had forced me and Sora out of the cockpit pretty much the second we got back to the ship.

"Go take a nap or something, its gonna be a bit before we get there." He pushed the 2 of us down the hall and closed the cockpit door behind us. I rubbed the back of my neck, the tension was wailing down my body. Did he hate me or something? Because that duck had a vendetta, I could feel it.

Sora looked to me for a moment and then started walking down the hall. I had to ask the question. But I felt like now wasn't appropriate. At least until I gathered the viable evidence to support my claim. So instead, I followed him down the hall to his room. I sat down at the desk and put my fingers to my temples.

"What's going on?" Sora's voice behind me on the bed sounded concerned. "Are you alright Nina?"

I rubbed my temples very lightly. "I think I am getting a headache."

I use to have headache spells a lot while working for the paper. They use to be full blown migranes when I was under a lot of stress. And I use to take pills that helped them. But now being under a different kind of stress, my headache was returning. And without the pills, it wouldn't just go away quickly like I wished.

"Nap, you, now." Sora patted the side of the bed. I felt the urge to say no, but knowing how I felt, I wouldn't be able to handle it. Maybe closing my eyes for a few moments would be better for me.

I got up lethargically from the desk and with heavy footsteps, walked over and collapsed on the bed, face down.

I don't know when I fell asleep, but I know I did. I woke up abruptly. And when I woke up, I saw Sora watching over me. I wiped my mouth and looked at him with curious eyes. He seemed to be thinking, but about what, I didn't even know.

"What's up?" I asked, turning over and facing him. He looked away for a moment, but his gaze came right back.

"You looked like you were having a dream." He said. "I was wondering what it was about."

I felt puzzled in that brief moment. Why did he even care? Its not like we knew each other that well. I felt his eyes piercing me. I couldn't believe I said what was on my mind.

"I honestly don't know why you need to know." I said harshly. He looked taken aback.

"I just..." he looked away again. "It seemed like a nightmare. Your eyes were moving really fast and you kept squinting and moving."

I honestly didn't remember the dream. Ok that's a lie, I vaguely remember. It had to do with the world I lived in being surrounded by darkness. But it wasn't really a nightmare so much as a memory. I didn't know why I was thinking about it. It honestly hadn't crossed my mind since they told me we'd be going to other worlds. I had pretty much moved on and expected that I was going to be alone forever. Working and living a normal life. No adventure. Just the ones I wrote about in my stories. And I really was curious as to why he was worried about me at all. So I asked the question. He looked at me and didn't even bat an eyelash before responding.

"I want us to be friends on this journey." He looked at me, and it expressed the entire emotion. "I feel like you are nervous being here, and I want to look out for you, ya know? I know you cant really fight well and you are new to the whole traveling thing. I just want to make it easier for you."

I was touched, I'll admit. I hadn't even had someone care about me like this in a long time. There was only one person in my entire life I knew to care. And she and I went our separate ways a long time ago. He seemed genuine in it too. I grinned back at him.

"You're cute, you know that." I rolled onto my stomach again. He looked really thrilled to hear it.

"Well I have been told I'm pretty cool." he put his hands behind his head. I wasn't sure whether it was the fact that he was a complete dork at heart, or if he was putting on a perfect front, but I couldn't help but joke back at him.

"Well, they must be pretty crazy people to think a spikey weirdo like you is cool." I laughed. He folded his arms with an offended look.

"Tell me something, Nina." he closed his eyes. "Tell me a secret about you that no one else knows."

A secret? That no one else knows? Why would he want that. But at this point, I could tell he wouldn't run to Donald and Goofy and tell them. He seemed like a really good person.

"Well, I have worked a job and gone to school for 2 years by myself." I admitted. "My world got swallowed by darkness then. And I ended up in Twilight Town. I just kinda woke up next to the old mansion. I only had about 2000 munny on me. So I quickly asked around where I could get a room. The next day I enrolled in school and started looking for a job. I got the job at the newspaper because they asked me to write an essay because I had no resume. I guess they sympathized with me, even though they probably didn't believe I came from another world. So I have been working, going to school, and writing novels to get me through. Somehow I have made a solid living."

Sora listened the entire time more intensely than anyone I had ever met. No interruptions, nothing. Just quiet listening.

"You caught me on just another day. And now, somehow, I am here." I looked down at the pillow. "My parents always told me life could change in a moment, and until that day, I never believed it. And today, its a firm belief because I am right here with you guys."

"I understand your world being sucked away from you." He crossed his legs and turned to face me. "My home was sucked away. I lost everything. Ended up somewhere I didn't even know. And I lost Riku and my friend Kairi too."

"Whose Kairi?" I asked, surprised I hadn't heard that name either.

"She's my best friend." He looked up and smiled, a smile I had never seen. I don't know why, but my heart sank a little. His look was a look that my dad gave my mom all the time. It was a look...of love. I had never felt so guilty to say that I wasn't happy to hear that.

"She must be something special." I feigned a smile. "You have a crush on her, huh?"

He looked flustered. "I-its nothing like that!" Yup, he had a crush on her.

I looked down at the pillow yet again. I don't know what I felt at that moment. Maybe a hint of jealousy that I had never had a man look at me that way, or maybe it was the fact...no it couldn't be. Maybe I was jealous of Kairi for getting Sora's affection. That was honestly a stretch. I just met this kid. He couldn't be an object of my affections already. I mean, I know he finds me attractive, I can tell just from the way that he looked at me when we were in Hollow Bastion. But this wasn't just attraction with her. He obviously had a connection. I moaned into the pillow, thinking about a way to change the subject.

"When are we getting to the next world?" Good job, Nina.

"I'll go ask Donald." He got off the bed and walked out the door. When I knew he was gone, I put my head down and let out a loud and heavy sigh into the pillow. There was no way this could be what I was feeling. Not possible. And not gonna happen.

XxxxxX

We landed and I could just smell clean air radiating through the Gummi Ship. I never smelled fresh air. There were no trees in the center of Twilight Town. I was bouncing at this point to get out of the ship and into the air.

As we exited, we were looking down a long stretch of path. Bamboo lined the walkway. I was in utter awe. I had never seen real bamboo before. And it just felt like an open world, ready to be explored. Sora stepped beside me.

"Ready for the real story to begin?" He asked with a hint of eagerness. I knew he was mostly excited about the writing. But I felt that he was prepared to help me through the journey. I nodded looking straight down the path as Donald and Goofy walked ahead.

We neared the end of a path and suddenly, we saw a person clad in green armor was being attacked by a shadowy figure. Sora and the others started whispering.

"Lets get the jump on em." Sora looked back to the figure. He and Donald nodded. I was nervous as to what this entailed, but I knew I would play no part. Sora and Donald rushed out and Goofy stayed behind with me.

He looked over to me and whispered. "They always do this..."

I chuckled. "You don't say." As the other 2 rushed over, a small dragon jumped into the arms of the person. Sora and Donald stopped dead in their tracks. Goofy and I joined them.

"Mushu?" Goofy asked.

The dragon popped out from the persons grasp. I heard him talking way too fast for me to catch up. He seemed like intimidation wasn't one of his strong suits.

"Hey Mushu, we missed you!" Sora said, nearly too excited for his own good.

"Yeah well you better hope I miss you, or else you're...Sora! Donald! Goofy!"

"You know them?" It seemed me and the other person were asking at the same time. We looked at each other and then to the dragon in question.

"Man, we use to kick all kinds of bad guy butt together." Mushu looked like he was about to football hivefive Sora. He then looked up to me. "And you are?"

"I'm Nina, I'm new to the crew." I said with a sheepish smile.

"What about you?" Donald asked the person in green.

"I am Mulan-I mean Ping." You weren't fooling me. You're voice gave you away posthaste.

"Mulan Ping?" Goofy asked confused.

The girl stood up straight and put on her best manly voice. But honestly, I didn't feel fooled. "Just Ping. I am Ping, son of Fa Zou."

Keep telling yourself that. I grinned to myself in knowing what I knew. The group asked how they knew Mushu, and in my mind I was jotting down every word, ever speech, everything about these moments that I could remember for writing purposes later.

"Itll be easier if I fit in with guys like you." My head shot up. What did she mean?

"You're pretending to be a boy aren't you?" Goofy said with a smile that was almost the same as mine a few moments ago.

"You're a girl?" Sora asked in confusion. Was he really that much of a dork? I shook my head, face palming in my brain.

"I think its working." the girl, Mulan, smiled to Mushu.

"So why do you have to dress up like a boy?" I asked, curious at her face. She totally couldn't fool anyone in that disguise right?

She rubbed the back of her neck. "They only let men into the Imperial Army."

My face dropped that moment. If she had to hide that she was a girl...so would I. How would we work that out.

I looked to Donald and with a look of pure innocence. "Got any magic to make me a suit of armor too?" I could tell the duck was thinking long an hard about this.

"I can try." He looked at me and held his wand out to me. "Wait, I have an even better idea."

XxxxxX

Let me tell you a thing. When you are changing sexes, you don't grow the junk to become one. Or at least I didn't. I lost my boobs and Mulan wrapped my hair for me. I couldn't help but feel insecure in that moment. Sora looked me over, inspecting me throughout

"Very convincing." He clapped his hands together. I felt stupid.

"Um, thanks I guess." Whoa, even my voice was different. Impressive, duck. Maybe I have a chance and can blend in better than Mulan can. Or at least I would hope so. I didn't know how long the magic would last, but I would at least be long enough to get Mulan through the army...I hoped.

Walking down the path, I tested my own stride, making sure I didn't swing my hips as I walked. As a girl, we all do it. So I watched as Sora walked, testing my own ability to walk without seeming abnormal.

As we neared the camp, I heard Mushu whisper to Mulan, "Remember girl: Manly."

I looked over my shoulder to seeing her walking like a duck with her toes curved inward. I moved back to her. "I don't think you need to be walking like that."

"How do you do it?" She asked, still walking slower in her weird way.

"Straighten your back, and don't swing your hips." I relayed my own way of doing it onto her. She straightened up and we walked over to a group of men, standing in a line. Sora and Donald got into it, but were pushed out of the way by a short burly man and 2 people behind him.

"Hey no cutting!" Sora threw his hands down like a little kid. I was embarrassed at that moment. What the heck was going on? It was a blur. The little man punched Sora right in the mouth, and remembering that I was trying not to look like a gay guy, just reacted like Mulan and Goofy, who both remained shocked. Donald and Sora both ended up in a fight pretty quickly. Punches were thrown, hair pulling and slapping. I could tell I wasn't the only one feeling anxiety at that moment.

"Please!" Mulan yelled out. I stopped in my tracks. She didn't use her man voice. I was pretty sure we were going to get in trouble at that moment.

"This is useless fighting, enough!" I yelled over her, trying to cover up the mistake.

"What a pair of girls." The little man scoffed, still with his hands on Sora.

"Lets just get back in line ok?" Mulan returned to her gravely man voice. Sora looked dumbfounded at her.

"Whose side are you on?" He whined. "I just got slugged!"

A voice appeared behind us. "Soldiers, get back in line!"

We didn't hesitate and every single one of us was in line. A tall and muscular man in a suit of armour walked down the line, and I figured he had to be the leader of the army. He gave every single one of us a stern look. I guess we stuck out pretty bad being that a pair of teenagers and a dog and duck were not dressed in the same way as the rest of them. But for some reason, that didn't seem to cross the mind of our dear captain. I looked away from the line for just a moment, suddenly seeing the sight I hoped I wouldn't see. Heartless, surrounding the camp.

"Not this again." I muttered under my breath, readying my weapon for battle. Sora and the rest of them also prepared, including Mulan. She looked hesitant at the sight of them.

"Ping, I hope youre ready." Sora said, immediately running into battle without looking back. The rest of us followed in suite. Mulan seemed really uncomfortable in battle. She kept tripping, unable to keep a handle on her sword, the battle seeming never ending as I covered her back. She wasn't covering mine of course, but I knew this would only help me get better. I didn't take nearly as many hits as I did in Hollow Bastion. As we took down the last of the heartless, Sora rushed over to me and held out his hand. I highfived him and smiled at him. He didn't seemed weirded out by my manly form, which made me even more self conscious that the last time I looked into his eyes. I didn't exactly know how to feel, but I had to shake it off.

"Soldiers, what are your names?" The captain walked over to us, a look of gratitude plastered on his face.

"Sora!"

"Donald!"

"Goofy!"

"Nin-" My mouth quickly shut and my brain quickly tried to think up a proper answer. "Ninja."

"You're name suits you." The captain said with a smile. I breathed out hard in relief. "You're welcome in my troops, gentlemen."

A quiet voice came from beside me. "I am Ping, son of Fa-"

"You should be going." The captain cut her off before she could even finish. I was in a stunned silence. But Sora spoke up before I could even place my words right.

"If Ping trains hard and does his best, would you allow him?" He asked, hopeful look was held on his face. The same hopeful look I felt like I was giving. "Give us an assignment so he can prove himself."

The captain agreed, thankfully. Mulan looked so worried it made me nervous. But we all needed to prepare ourselves. These could be the most challenging battles yet.


	6. Chapter 6

I must say that the assignments were grueling, but for once on this journey, I was prepared. Prepared, meaning I didn't do what Mulan did during the entire battle. I'd say, I was hacking and slashing like a pro by now. But my concerns were still raised over the looks a certain white duck was giving me.

I felt so self conscious when he would look at me. I didn't feel this around anyone else. Goofy was nothing but smiling towards me, and Sora was, of course, Sora; overly nice and treating me like a proper lady, I mean gentleman right now.

"So many heartless." I rolled my shoulders to Sora after the battles.

We were in between assignments and he was buckling a shoe buckle that came undone. "You're improvements are amazing."

I felt my face heat up. "I just look good next to Mula- I mean Ping." I knew I was within earshot of the men in the camp and I didn't want to give her away. I looked back over her, talking to the gentleman who socked Sora in the face earlier in the day. I didn't know what they were talking about, but suddenly he was in her face. She recoiled, and my mind didn't even flash before I was walking away from Sora and over to her.

"Hey you." I yelled. Who knew I would be so bold as to do something like this. "Pick on someone your own size."

The man was a little shorter than I was. And I was supremely frustrated with seeing someone I called a friend being picked on. The annoyance was all over me. He looked shocked, but suddenly the look softened into a teasing glare.

"Or what?" The guy snickered under his breath. "What's this wimp possibly gonna do if I keep picking on this pathetic guy?"

I looked to Mulan, who was in a shocked state. I don't think she knew what I was doing either.

"Obviously you've never seen a midget cry." I smirked. He looked angrier than before at this comment.

"Who are you calling a midget?" He reeled back, ready to fight. I knew the captain was watching. I knew if he punched me, I'd have a black eye and this guy would get what he deserved. Was I really willing to take a punch for someone I barely knew?

But I didn't even have time to process it when he swung back and knocked me upside the head. I felt myself stumble back. His punch was hard, ill give him that, but I smirked through it, refusing to let myself fall on the ground in front of the men. I was a man right now, I could handle this. I saw the captain walking towards us. And he looked to the man and pulled him away from me. I couldn't hear what they were saying. But that was mainly because my head was ringing.

I couldn't hold myself up anymore after they were away from me. I felt to my knees. I heard footsteps running to me. And then a whisper of, "Are you ok, Nina?"

I looked up into the eyes of Sora, who was followed by Mulan and then Donald and Goofy. He looked more worried than I had yet to see him. I think it was pure shock. "Yeah, it was nothing."

"Nina, thank you so much for standing up for me." Mulan knelt down to me and whispered in the same tone of voice as Sora. "But that honestly wasn't necessary."

I smiled up ruefully. "I can't allow people to be picked on. I remember being alone and no one being there." Her face softened and she smiled. Sora put gentle hands on my shoulders.

"Can you stand up?" He questioned. My head was ringing, but I felt like I could. With a little help from the boy at my side, I stood up. He peered into my face and turned my head to look at the spot I got hit on. He frowned.

"When we get back to the Gummi ship, you'll need to ice that." He said in a stern voice. Thanks, Mom.

XxxxxxX

The captain decided to give us one more task to see what Mulan was really made of. He gave us orders to clear the path ahead towards the summit of the mountain. We would meet in a little town there and reconfigure ourselves. So we headed up that way, not really choosing to waste any time waiting for my headache to die down. Sora was ahead of the group, and I stayed towards the back, walking instead of running. Mulan walked with me as we headed up the hill.

"How is your head?" She asked. I felt the welt that was created. It didn't hurt, but I knew it would later.

"You know, I am sure I have cracked my head open when I was a kid or something." I held back a laugh. "I am sure I can handle anything now."

She smiled calmly. I felt like she was trying to make conversation, but didn't know what to say. So I decided to try something.

"When did you decide you needed to join the army?" Good question. I didn't even know anything about this girl. So to talk to her would be nice to know who we were helping.

"Well," She cleared her throat. "The army was recruiting and my father was meant to recruit. He is getting old, and I couldn't bare to see him go to war, just to die. So I stole his armor and came to join the army."

"That's a wonderful thing to do." I felt a smile curl on my lips. What a lovely daughter she had to be.

She cleared her throat again. "I feel like I am dishonoring my family doing this. My family is probably angry and worried. I just want to make my father and my ancestors proud."

I felt that pain. Wanting to make your parents proud anyways. I don't know about my family past. But while I was in school in Twilight Town, I wanted to be a good student so I could give my parents the daughter they always wanted. A person to be proud of. A honest to goodness piece of platinum.

Suddenly, I heard yelling from ahead. We booked it up the path and saw Sora in his red garb fighting several heartless that had appeared, with Donald and Goofy at his side. Rocks barred our path ahead and we had nowhere to run. We disposed of them as quickly as we could, with Sora breaking the rocks in the path with his keyblade. I would love to learn that technique. I decided on these monsters to test the strength of my magic again. I threw blizzard at them, the ice getting bigger and bigger everytime. Several heartless went down at the same time because of my magic. And Sora looked back to me, giving me an approving look. I smiled sheepishly at him. No way Donald didn't see that. No way in heck.

"Way to clean house." Sora said to the group as we went up the path, seeing the village in sight. I realized as I spoke, my voice was getting higher in pitch. The magic was starting to wear off. I knew this was about to happen any time now. And I wasn't about to ask Donald for another favor.

The path was clear, and seeing the gentlemen who gave us a rough time, I felt like I wanted to keep my head down. They looked at us with approving gazes.

"Hey, you're not half bad." The short man said to Mulan.

"A man among men." Another one of them said with a smile.

The men began walking towards the village ahead of us. Mulan looked down with a look I could only describe as winded. "But the captain..."

"Captain!" Sora yelled, and suddenly Mulan perked up. The group complimented her hard work. I was surprised she was improving as we kept going up. Even I had to give her props.

"Fine, you may join my troops, but I still don't believe you have what it takes to be a proper soldier." His look never changed. I was feeling a little more uplifted. Even though I was still trying to speak in a lower tone to keep from outing myself as well. The gentlemen walked up ahead of us, and Sora and I both gave her a thumbs up.

We entered the quiet village. People were not outside though. I assumed the heartless were close. Probably the smartest choice. Before too long, the rest of the army had joined us and were surveying the area and probably going up the mountain to see if the path was clear.

The 5 of us joined up with each other and Mushu spoke up. "Now I saw a shade guy go into that cave over there. I know it was Shan-Yu."

Shan-Yu? The guy that they are trying to stop? Why would he come so close to the village? He's gotta be the biggest failure of subtlety is that is the case.

"We've gotta tell the captain!" Sora said, already getting ready to walk that way.

Mushu stopped him quickly. "Wait wait wait. Now why are we here? To help the Captain see Mulan- I mean Ping's talents and help bring honor to her family."

Made sense. So far anyways.

"If we go in by ourselves, we can fry him up good. And then the captain will have to notice her."

I wasn't sure why, but this seemed like a bad idea deep down. But everyone else was onboard, so I followed them without saying a word. No one would want my two sense anyways. I know that Goofy was often ignored. They wouldn't wanna listen to me.

As we entered the cave, we saw fireworks lining the walls. Was this cave meant to blow up? I wasn't prepared for that. We saw a large room at the end and at the back wall was a shrine, probably to some ancient god. I really didn't know if I wanted to know the Chinese mythology. But alas, there was no one there. Donald and Goofy decided to leave before the cave exploded I guess. I started off behind them. Sora and Mulan stayed behind, looking mighty confused. As we exited, suddenly there was a loud rumbling that shook the entire room. I looked back and saw Donald and Goofy were stopped. I joined them, only to notice when I tried to enter the room again, there was a barrier blocking the way in. I banged on it, hoping to break it. How do you even break an invisible barrier anyways?

I didn't know why I asked these questions at a time like this. I watched as the two were surrounded by heartless. I was nervous. I had only seen Mulan in battle a little and I knew she wouldn't be able to take all them on without someone watching her back. Sora quickly rushed into battle without a second glace. My stomach dropped. I knew he could handle himself, but why did I feel scared?

"I can't look," I said, only peering out of the corner of my eye.

"If its Sora you're worried about, don't be." Goofy said, looking back to me. I blushed.

"Its not that." I said.

"He is strong enough for both of them." Donald's look had softened to me. First time for everything I guess.

I watched as they continued to battle, fighting on and on with man different types of heartless attacking. It was over in minutes. But it felt like hours. The barrier broke down and the 3 of us rejoined them.

I stared at Sora, who was patting Mulan on the back. My mind was blank. I am glad he is ok.

"C'mon, time to report to the captain." Mushu looked over the moon.

"Why should we do that?" I asked, feeling my voice changing with every tone I made.

"We are gonna tell him that heartless stormed the cave and Ping took on ever single one of them."

XxxxxxX

The group seemed thrilled over this new wave of confidence for Mulan. But the hope was gone in a moment. We returned to the village, only to see burning wood and smoke. I couldn't believe it. He torched the entire place. Where was everyone? Where did they all go? Please don't tell me they...

"Captain!" Mulan shouted, looking over to see the fallen commander sitting on the ground with a large gash in his side.

"Its just a scratch." He said, moaning as he tried to stand, only to find him back on his butt on the ground.

"Captain, the enemy, where did they go?" Mulan commanded. The captain pointed towards the summit.

Mushu didn't take long to blame himself, but Sora intervened. "Shan-Yu and the heartless, did this, not us."

"We will be back for you." I put on my best low voice. The captain only nodded and we escaped towards the summit. The snow was under my feet and I felt a chill run down my spine. Things were about to get ugly, I felt it. Sora and the others went ahead, looking up the mountain. I joined, only to see a large man at the top of the mountain. He held a sword high in his hand and looked like he was ready for a fight. Without warning, an army, and I mean hundreds of yellow heartless that looked like little blimps were heading down the mountain side.

Swiftly, we were surrounded, and the five of us hopped into battle. I was surrounded, forcing myself to exert all my energy, with a headache included. One after another, heartless went down and I felt myself get stronger with every hit. I watched as Sora took on 7 at once. I took a moment just to take in the sight of him fighting. Just what I wanted to be. Just what I hoped I could become. I hoped my passion for this spear would give me the boost I needed to become just what Sora was. Strong and courageous. My mind went back to the heartless. Fighting off more than I thought I could, but they just kept coming.

"There's too many!" Donald yelled out as he sent a healing spell on Sora.

"Step aside." It was that short guy again. I still didn't have a name to the face. But I didn't care. He was just short and angry to me. He held in his hand a firework, getting ready to shoot it directly at Shan-Yu, who was still on the mountain top holding aloft his sword high in the sky.

Without warning, Mulan had an idea, because she forced the short guy out of the way and took his firework to the ground. I saw where she was aiming it. Right at the top of the mountain. And when I say top, I mean higher and snowier than where Shan-Yu was standing at that moment. She looked around looking for something to light the fire, and the first thing she saw, was Mushu. He kinda deserved it though. But I didn't wanna be too mean on a guy who was just trying to help guard a family member.

The firework headed up the mountain top, hitting into the side with a force I could only call an explosion. Snow started to fall, down down down. An avalanche was about to head right towards us. I grabbed at Sora's collar and the two of us ran for it, fast then I had ever ran in my entire life. I didn't even look over my shoulder to see if anyone else had made it. Just as we had made it to safety, Sora looked at me with wide eyes.

"Nina, youre..." He pointed at me. I felt chest. My hair. My face. Everything was back to normal. Now of all times. I panicked and hid behind Sora as we saw the captain talking to Mulan. I couldn't bare it if he saw me now of all times. Sora ran over towards them, and I stayed a little bit behind, hoping to stay hidden.

"You knew." he almost yelled. "You knew Mulan was a woman in disguise, didn't you?"

He looked back and saw me. I looked down. Best time to come out would be now. "You too?"

"I'm sorry captain." I couldn't look at him. I was scared of being reprimanded for this of all things.

"The penalty for high treason, is death." He said. Death?! What? "Now get out of my sight, you are all dismissed."

The five of us looked to one another, as the army men started their way down the mountain top. I really was nervous. But I could breathe a little easier now.

XxxxxxX

"Thank you everyone. Sorry I got you in trouble." Mulan had ditched the armor and was in a more appropriate outfit suited to her. She really was a beautiful lady.

"Its no big deal." Sora smiled. "So Ping- I mean Mulan, what are you going to do now?"

She expressed her readiness to go home. I could tell facing her parents wouldn't be an easy task. If I had just shamed myself in front of the army...actually I did. Sorry Mom, looks like I won't be winning daughter of the year award in being the in Chinese army.

I sighed as Sora pulled Donald, Goofy, and me into his arms. "We'll take our share of the blame."

Mulan laughed. I felt a little bit better seeing that. We started heading down the ridge, looking over the view of the palace in the distance. It was a lovely sight to behold. But something was amiss. And I noticed it a little late. At the bottom of the summit, a hand came out of the snow. A rather large grey one at that.

"Shan-Yu is alive?" Sora was just as shocked as I was.

"We have to warn Shang!" Mulan exclaimed.

"Let's not waste any time then." I got up, preparing my spear. Down the mountain we go, with haste.

XxxxxX

Entering the palace gates, we saw we had just made it in time. The army was just heading inside.

"Shang!" Mulan yelled, grabbing his attention. "Shan-Yu is alive! He's heading this way!"

Shang was definitely in disbelief this time. "Why should I believe you?"

I looked up, going from tower to tower on the palace. I spotted him, sword still in hand. Shang must have noticed, but was giving orders all the same. But something was not right. I looked behind me to see the army men turning into heartless. What the heck was this? I wasn't exactly ready for that either. Sora and I readied our weapons yet again.

"We will take care of these guys and you can protect the emperor." He commanded. The rest of the group followed in suite.

Mowing down baddies was like a dream to me. Never in my life had I expected it to be this much fun. It was in that moment, fighting the heartless, that I had started to come up with ideas for the story. Words flowed through my spear as I fought off bigger heartless. I got knocked back many times, but I couldn't help but get myself back up. I didn't want to let down any of them.

As we beat up the last of the heartless, we headed up down the way and up the stairs to the palace door. We could see Shan-Yu, holding his sword to a mans throat. This guy had to be the Emperor. Suddenly, we saw Shang hurry over to his aid, and pull the man inside the palace. The guys ahead of us shut the door behind them. I now understood the next mission. Keep the door locked and fight this baddie off. Piece of cake, right?

Sora was dueling it off with Shan-Yu more than any of us. I casted magic his was and Mulan and the others were doing duel attacks on him from far away. I suddenly felt Shan-Yu coming my way and he slashed his sword at me, hitting the plate at my chest. Only in that moment was it real to me that this guy was truly a heartless and wanted my heart for his own. I was stunned, but I really couldn't let that stop me. No way at all.

We didn't back down though, and before we knew it, the ugly gray man was down for the count. Gone. For good. Thank god.

Sora and I exchanged our regular hive fives and Mulan received happy praise from all of us.

The doors opened and everyone looked as the Emperor exited the palace. We all stood at attention, looking to one another at what the man would have to say. A number of people had gathered in the palace square, and it was only then that I connected that we had really saved the people from a dangerous threat. My level of nervousness was rising though. Shan-Yu might be gone, but the penalty for treason was still death. Me and Mulan were screwed.

The Emperor spoke, listing off everything that we had done wrong. Sora groaned, placing a hand to his face. I bit at my nail, unsure of what else to do in that moment.

"You're a young woman, and in the end, you have saved us all." The Emperor bowed to her without a second thought. She looked so shocked, so unprepared, almost ready to stop him.

I turned around. "Mulan, look." I pointed at the now bowing crowd. I was really excited now. Never could I have expressed so much joy as in this very moment.

"Take this, so the world will know what you have done for China." Shang held out Shan-Yu's dented sword, gently placing it in her hands.

"Thank you, Your Excellency." She smiled greatly at him.

Shang looked over the rest of us with a look of gratitude. "Mulan, Sora, Donald, Goofy, Ninja."

"Nina." I corrected him with a sideward glance.

"Nina," He repeated. "Thank you."

The emperor whispered to Shang. "If you wish to win the heart of Fa Mulan, China's bravest woman, you'll have to be a bit more eloquent than that."

Mulan looked embarrassed, but was grinning the whole way through. I couldn't stop smiling either. Lets be honest here, we just helped out an entire country and a new friend all at once, I couldn't be any more happy if I tried.

Mushu spoke under his breath, the only thing I remember hearing was Sora's yelling and then the chase ensued. I laughed. But before I knew it, the sword held in Mulan's hand started to glow. Sora stopped mid run, taking out his keyblade and locking yet another keyhole.

"Its time to be moving on." He smiled sheepishly at them. "Can we come back to visit?"

Mulan and Shang both nodded.

"Take care of yourself." Shang said.

"Y'all play nice now, ya hear." Goofy said. The two stepped away from each other, looking completely taken aback by the comment. We all said our goodbye, and headed back to the Gummi Ship. I stilled wanted that bag of Ice, and couldn't wait for it.


	7. Chapter 7

I was searching in the cabinet for a bag. Any size would do me at this point. And the shelves were so high up that I was standing on my tiptoes and still couldn't reach it. With a sigh I pulled myself onto the table and stood on top. I searched through the emptiness, only to find a plastic baggie in last shelf I looked in. Typical. I looked down at the floor. Although it was only about 2 feet, but it felt like miles. I liked being this tall. As I turned my back, I saw Sora standing in the door way with a smirk on his face.

"The Ninja too short to look through the cabinets?" He teased, walking towards me, every footstep making a sound on the floor that made the room shake. I watched him, looked down at my baggie and then questioned why that name would be brought up again.

"Ninja?" I asked. He held out his arms to me, and I guess was expecting me to jump into them to get off the counter.

"Aw c'mon, I'll catch you." He read my mind. I shook my head. But before I could get off, he ran over to me and had picked me up by my knees and was already setting me on the ground. For a guy who was small, he was strong. I felt myself get small inside as he set me down. This freak feeling again? What was this boy doing to me? But at least I didn't have to worry about cracking my already welted head open now.

I quickly changed up the subject. "Why Ninja?" Nailed it.

"It's the perfect nickname for you." He moved to look in the fridge.

"I am no ninja." I laughed pathetically to myself. It was true, I am no ninja. I couldn't possibly be. I wasn't fast, I wasn't skilled, and I sure as heck looked like a lump compared to Sora. If anyone deserved the nickname of Ninja, that would be him. I could see his eyes darting around the fridge, smiling the whole way.

"Well, Its one letter away from your name, and that's good enough for me." He picked an apple out of the lower shelf and took a bite before closing the door.

"Please!" I ran my hand through my hair. "If I was a ninja, I wouldn't need a plastic bag in the first place."

I realized in that moment that I had a bag in hand and I could finally get this swelling welt to go down a little. I pulled open the freezer door and the rush of cold hit my face. I looked around it. Finding an ice cube tray with a few taken out. Thank goodness. I cracked a few into the bag and replaced the tray before closing the door. I could feel the gaze of the boy on me and it burned a hole in the side of my head.

Sora watched me close the bag and place it on my head. The pain was now taking over and I twitched when it hit. I looked at him with a pained expression on my face. His face softened from joking to a caring smile.

"Next time, I'll take the punches." He took another bit of his fruit. I laughed lightly at the thought of how Sora seemed so pained the first time he got punched in the face by that guy. It wasn't something I could easily forget.

"Please, you whined harder than I did." A joking tone came out of my mouth. He widened his eyes mid bite and I could tell he was feigning offense.

"No lady should ever get hit by anyone." He said, closing his eyes and looking at the floor. "Even if you were pretending to be a man, that still doesn't give anyone the right."

Where did this come from? This wasn't what I was expecting to come out of anyone's mouth today. I felt like there was something he wasn't telling me. But I couldn't place the thought on why. He seemed to have gotten smaller in the process and was now staring at his fruit with a foreign observation. Those word...they were really serious.

"Well then, you can be my hero." I said, placing my free hand on his shoulder. "I am gonna go try to write for a bit. If you wanna read the next chapter, I'll let you know when its done."

He perked up at that request. "Will the red pen be waiting for me?"

"The red pen will be waiting for you." I grinned. Without another word, I headed out the door, noticing the ice bag was clutched so hard in my hand that I was digging my nails into it.

XxxxxxX

I had finished writing for the night and when I finally felt right, I decided to try to get at least a wink of sleep. I hadn't really gotten much since the day I had left my little Twilight Town. The ice bag had completely melted at this point, so I took the bag and threw it in the bathroom sink. I leaned in on the table and looked into the mirror, noting my tired eyes and worn out face. 'Sleep, its time for sleep.'

I hobbled down the hall and ended up back in Sora's room. The boy looked focused, red pen in hand and his eyes glue to the page. I couldn't help but give him a small smile, despite the tiredness.

"I am gonna head to bed." I said, opening the covers up and kicking off my shoes. "Don't wake me please."

He looked over his shoulder, nibbling on the end of the pen. I closed my eyes and sighed. "And if any teeth marks are on my pen..." He instantly stopped.

"Sorry, I am just super into this story." He said. "How do you write so well?"

What a question to ask. A question that would take eons to answer. So I put it in simple terms.

"Its my passion, and I have practiced so long, its just a part of me."

"Do you have any stories besides this I could read?" He turned his head back to the page.

I closed my eyes as my head hit the pillow. "Not with me, sorry."

Hearing him exhale, his voice came in a small way. "Someday, I'd love to read some."

That was the last thing I heard before I drifted off, with his sweet voice ringing in my head.

But I awoke abruptly in the middle of the night. I must have been dreaming again because I literally shot up in bed. I looked through my surroundings, and saw a sleeping Sora next to me. He must have finally went to bed sometime in the night, because he wasn't there when I went. I could feel the sides of my eyes stinging, and my heart was beating faster than normal.

I forget sometimes that I am on an adventure. Sometimes it feels like work or a chore, but right now I am far away from home, going all over the universe. I looked out the window and saw stars. The Gummi ship wasn't moving very fast I guess. Donald and Goofy must have gone to bed too. I pulled my knees to my chest and was deep in thought. Who would have thought this would have happened. I have been on this adventure for at least 3 days and I am still in shock.

And this boy...

I turned to look at Sora, mouth open, sleeping like a little kid. Something about him was making me question the person that I am. He made me wonder whether or not I was really who I was. Because my snarky self, which I hadn't seen in a long time, wasn't really there. Maybe once I got more comfortable with him, I would be able to be my normal self again. Or maybe this group would change me for the better. Whatever way you put it, I knew by the end of this journey, I wouldn't be the same Nina I was when I left Twilight Town. I had friends now. Something I couldn't say a couple of days ago.

But there was the vendetta I felt the Duck had against me. I knew it was there, whether the rest of the group didn't, but Donald doubted me. He still doubts me. But that was something I guess I'd have to prove.

I stretched, too deep in thought as late as it was. Or was it the early morning. I didn't even know. I got up and saw Sora move in his sleep. I moved even slower at this point, trying not to wake him. I went to my bag and started rummaging through it. I didn't know what I was looking for, but when I found it, it was exactly what I wanted to see.

My cellphone from home. It was a green flip phone. I know, I am old school but I wasn't keen about upgrading. We didn't have cellphones where my parents are. And I barely knew how to use it, but one of the ladies at my work told me to get one incase they needed me. I opened up the phone and looked at the top. Of course there was no service. I wouldn't have expected dimension traveling you'd have four bars. And then I started going through my phone again. I hadn't looked at this thing in a few days. And I felt a little homesick, so I started going through voicemails. I had one in particular that stopped me cold.

"Hi Nina, Its me, I just wanted to tell you that I am getting married next week..." I remembered the voice well. My last friend. The voicemail was from 3 year ago. I don't know why I still had it.

"And I just wanted to tell you, if you are still mad at me, I would still save you a seat, hell I'd let you be my maid of honor if it meant anything to you. Well if you get this message, call me back. I miss you."

I felt myself getting sad really quickly. She was running away. And of course I was mad at her. She was leaving me for a man that she barely knew. But whatever. It wasn't my concern anymore. But then...why did it make me wanna cry.

"Nina?" I heard a very sleepy Sora call out to me.

I quickly shut the phone and got up off the floor. He looked up at me.

"What's wrong?" His eyes were now open and he was looking up at me. The light coming from the stars outside help me to reveal that he was indeed laying shirtless on the bed, both hands under the pillows, bedhead and all. I was glad he couldn't see me blushing at this point.

"Nothing, just homesick." I said, getting back under the covers. I turned away from him and felt the tear that I was holding back fall onto the pillow. But shock overcame me when I felt a hand run through my hair. Was he playing with my hair?

I recoiled, but at the same time, I liked it. Even though I REALLY shouldn't.

"If you ever need anything, you can talk to me." He said, half sleepy again. "Do you need anything now?"

I debated for a second, but I turned back over to face him. "No, not really."

Before I could say another word, he had one arm over my shoulders and pulled me against his chest. I was not ready and suddenly I pushed him back so hard he fell off the side of the bed. Shock overcame his face.

"Oh god, Sora, I'm so sorry!" I said, much louder than it should have been. He rubbed his head.

"No, I am sorry." He crawled back in next to me. "I shouldn't have done that." He turned over facing away from me and not another word was said. And in that moment, I started to cry silently all over again.

XxxxX

The next morning, Sora wasn't next to me when I woke up. I got up and made my side of the bed really quickly, remembering the events of last night. I no longer felt as homesick as I did last night, but I was still super scared Sora was going to ignore me or something. I walked out of the room and headed towards the bathroom again.

I splashed some water in my face and patted down my bedhead before examining myself again. Not so tired, but my nose and upper lip were a little bit red. I must have cried for a while. I sniffled and then took a deep breath. 'Confidence, Nina.' I pep talked myself.

As I exited the bathroom, I saw Sora and the others in the cockpit. They were examining the map and I rubbed my eyes and joined them. "Good morning."

Sora gave me a smile. "Good Morning. Did you sleep well?" He must have been half asleep when everything happened last night. He was waaaay too peppy for someone who had gotten shoved out of bed.

"Yeah." I walked over and looked at the map. And in typical fashion, I couldn't read it.

"Next stop, we are going to..." Donald stopped and squinted at the map. "It doesn't say."

Sora and I exchanged glances. Everyone was on their feet and the door opened up. And through a large double doors, we entered into a huge manor. It was dark, gloomy, and made me wonder who could possibly live in a place like this.

"What is this place?" Sora asked, hands behind his head already and staring up at every fixture in the room. Without hesitation, what I can only describe as the roar of a tiger echoed through the hall. It was so loud that I jumped and looked around with fear of being attacked. I pulled my weapon out.

Goofy looked back to the group. "Does anybody else recognize that?"

Sora and Donald looked questionable, but when the roar came a second time, Sora's face brightened up. "Hey, that's the Beast!"

Beast? This world has someone by the name of that? And by that roar I wasn't ready to meet them. But before my thoughts could cloud me, a shadow ran right under us and to a room of to the right. The passage was lit and obviously we couldn't just sit around and wait. With staff in hand, me and the group trekked without a second thought.


	8. Chapter 8

With everyone running to the room I barely noticed the tiredness that ran through me. God only knows if I was going to be able to function today. I felt nervous in this place, and frankly, I wasn't prepared.

As we entered the room, nothing was there. Well except a beautiful rose encased in glass on a table in the corner. It glowed like stars and was quite a beauty. I had a thing for roses. They were my favorite flower, and I saw Donald get a gaze on his face that matched mine. He advanced towards it and as he reached his arms out to grab it, the shadow Heartless we saw earlier ended up in front of him on the table.

"Found it!" he screamed back stepping. Several Heartless surrounded us, and I immediately started slapping around them as many as I could. It was like playing baseball, I would hit them to the floor and Sora would finish them off. The team we made was astounding. Donald and Goofy were off doing their own team moves as well.

But the fight was never ending. Heartless after heartless, we had to have fought a dozen before Sora was panting, nearly as much as I was.

"Enough already!" He yelled into the air. Donald and Goofy were looking more tired than I was too.

"Please, Someone!" I suddenly could hear a loud banging coming from the door. The door jiggled and slammed open, revealing a huge monster. A REAL monster. I was more scared than I had been as the thing roared into the air and started swatting Heartless away with its hands. As they disinagrated into dust, the monster received a warm hello from Sora. But that was immediately thrown to the wayside because Sora was thrown from his feet across the room and hit against the wall. I tried to get out of the way, as did Donald and Goofy, but the 2 of them ended up in a pile on the floor and I was hurled across the room, ending up hitting my already painful head against the wall. I ended up on my front, gasping for breath. I was praying when I got up, nothing would be broken.

"Nina, are you ok?" Sora had already gotten to his feet as all four of us watched in silence as the monster took a hold of the rose on the table and shuffled out of the room. When he had finally left, all of us regrouped. Nothing broken, but my head was killing me. If I had a concussion by the end of this adventure, it would be too soon.

"Why'd he have to go and do that?" Donald was rubbing the side of his face.

"Ok , who was that? I am super confused." I looked to the 3, who both looked down.

"That was Beast, he's an old friend." Sora kicked the floor.

I scoffed. "Some friend..."

Sora recoiled, waving his hands in the air in front of him. "He isn't normally like that. I don't know what is going on. But something is definitely up."

Our group quickly left the room, peering into the dark corridor. Donald went out first, and stared up at the top of the stairwell.

"I know I've seen a lady at the top of the stairs." He said. Sora crossed his arms and I looked to Goofy.

He cleared his throat. "Well if the Beast is here, that lady musta be Belle, right?"

Sora nodded, the group started up the stairs. Heartless were all over the place. We disposed of them quickly and quietly. I felt myself feeling dizzy very quickly as we reached the top of the stairs and entered yet another corridor where Heartless were jumping out from behind the suits of armor that were neatly along the side of the wall.

After the foes were gone, we saw a huge door. I'm not exaggerating this either. The door was the size of the wall. I looked up feeling small again. The boys were listening in on the room, hearing a voice coming from inside. She sounded distressed. Poor thing. Living with a monster would worry me too.

Donald kicked up his feet, shook himself and threw himself at the door. I was shocked, but Sora was ever more than me. The duck ended up on his stomach in the room, huffing at the fact that the door was even open. I peered inside to see a beautiful woman, and I mean a BEAUTIFUL woman, like I questioned my own love of men because of her. She grinned and rushed over to hug Donald with a hug so vicious, it made him squirm.

"Sora! Goofy!" The girl smiled at them, Sora waving her off and Goofy unable to take his eyes off Donald because smooshed.

After the group finished exchanging hellos, the rest of us entered the room and shut the door behind us.

"Where's the Beast?" Donald inquired, shaking himself off and making sure his shirt was back in place.

"He must be in the west wing, we don't talk like we use to." She held her arm looking slightly forlorn.

"That big thing we just saw?" I began, questioning how a girl like her could live in a place like this. "You and him are friends?"

The woman nodded. "Who are you? I don't believe we've been introduced."

Sora pushed me towards her. "This is Nina, she's writing my life story." He was grinning. I looked to her and gave her a friendly smile. That was all I could do.

"I'm Belle." She suddenly lit up. "You're a writer?"

I felt suddenly at ease with her. "You should see our library, I am an avid reader and would love to read what you have written." She stepped forward and looked me over.

"A-Anyways." Donald cleared his throat. "The Beast won't talk to you?"

"Isn't that why you're here?" She looked puzzled, placing a hand to her chin. The boys all shrugged, giving me a sideward glace.

"Don't look at me." I said, my hands instantly in the air in front of me as if I was trying to push them away from me.

"The only ones who would know why he is acting this way are locked in the dungeon." Belle breathed out. "I want to help them..."

As her voice trailed off, Sora stopped her. "Wait a second, who is in the dungeon?"

"Beast's servants." She put it quite bluntly.

Sora gave Donald and Goofy a look before agreeing to take care of the servants, and get them out of the dungeon. More missions, more problems for us, more things I had to do. I was nervous, the Heartless were getting faster and bigger. I didn't know how well I'd be able to handle myself at this point.

"Leave it to us." Sora said, grabbing his friends by the collar, and me by the arm.

"Be careful!" Belle called out as we shut the door behind us and started our way down the hall.

XxxxX

I was getting vertigo from the large scale of this castle. It was bigger than I would have expected. The ceiling seemed like miles above me, each hall had a line of suits of armor, standing with swords and staffs that put mine to shame. I felt very small, again. This was the weirdest life I have ever lived, and man if it didn't make me question who I was as a person. I was never small. I was loud, I was friendly and outgoing, but I knew none of these people that Sora and his friends knew. I never lived this crazy adventurous lifestyle they did. I was Nina, and boy did I feel like I didn't know myself at all anymore.

As we turned the corner, Sora had his hands over his eyes, squinting. "Let's see, the Undercroft should be...there!" We looked over to see a chest of drawers sitting in the middle of the wall, just laying there. We walked over to it, I peered at it with fancied eyes. It was quite beautifully crafted. Ivory with pink and brown trim. I must say, I could imagine writing something about this in my stories. I had to take in every detail for later purposes.

Sora stood beside it, and pushed it with his full strength. I watched with an unusually keen eye for detail. Must remember everything that is happening so I might be able to write about it later.

When the chest of drawers was out of the way, Sora began reaching for the handle when suddenly...

"DO YOU MIND?" The wardrobe grew eyes and a mouth and the ability to move because it got back into its place in front of the door without hesitation. By now, Sora knew my mouth was wide open. Definitely the weirdest thing I have seen thus far. Sora came over to me and started whispering into my ear.

"I am gonna move it very slowly, if it starts to wake up, motion me to stop." I simply nodded and watched the face of the wardrobe as Sora began to slowly and quietly move it away from the door. It didn't take long, I mean it took a bit but it wasn't horrible. She only began to wake maybe 2 times overall. Sora shot my a glance and a smile, which I returned with a thumbs up. As he reached for the doorknob one more time, the wardrobe woke up again.

"May I help you?" It yawned, staring at us.

"Umm..." Sora was at a loss for words.

I cleared my throat and looked up. "Belle needs us to get into the dungeon. Something about saving lost servants." I rubbed my arm, gazing at the floor before trying to put on my face like I wasn't about to run screaming.

"Oh you're here to help my friends!" The wardrobe's feminine voice made me blush. "It's been so long, since we've had visitors. I didn't always use to be like this you know. I was turned into a Wardrobe when the Prince was turned into a Beast."

Donald and Goofy exchanged shocked looks and then said exactly what was on my mind. "The prince is a Beast?"

"Wait a second." I opened my mouth, but the wardrobe began to speak.

"It was a cold winter's night..." The boys leaned in, prepared to hear the story. I folded my arms. I didn't know how I would write this.

The wardrobe sat up and smiled a devious smile. "And that is all for now, I will tell you the rest when you've rescued my friends."

The boys drooped over, and I stifled back a laugh. This lady played my games. Touché.

"Well, no time like the present!" Sora said, opening the door. "Let's go get those servants!"


	9. Chapter 9

We entered the room. It was dark and dank and cold, as I would presume a dungeon would be. Sora and I looked around. Shelves, baskets, not much else besides the large statues that I guess were door stoppers? I know that sounds weird, but you have to believe me. Sora smiled.

"Look at how weird those things are!" He said, putting an arm around my shoulder. We walked closer to the doors and he went to open them up. But without a moment's breath, the statues on the door were replaced by large Heartless. Same shape and size, but teeming with darkness. Sora and I sprang back, preparing our weapons for battle. Donald and Goofy were already way ahead of the game. Sora sprang into action, hitting the doors with force, trying to stop them from moving. I hurried in after him, doing the same types of motions, trying to I guess release the darkness? I wasn't sure what exactly I was doing, but I forced my way. Suddenly, the monster's energy, the darkness, was dispelled, the statues turning back into stone. Sora made quick motions, trying to keep the darkness from ending up back in the statues to slap us around.

Donald was casting magic, and I was swatting away Heartless that came out of the floor. I hoped it would give Sora enough time to get rid of the darkness.

"Nina! Watch out!" I looked up and saw the darkness coming right at me. I had no keyblade, so my staff didn't do much. I ducked out of the way, holding my head and crawling my way across the floor, trying to avoid being hit the head by the darkness.

Sora swooped in and pelted the aura with a few more swipes before it vanished. The room went silent, the heartless disappearing. I opened my eyes, looking up at Sora. His back was to me, but in the light, he was very heroic. I couldn't imagine being anything like him in the future. I was so weak. He turned to me, offering me a hand, and I took it as he lifted me up. Everytime I got lifted up by him, it seemed stronger. Donald was giving me a glare from the corner of his eye. He watched me cower didn't he?

"We gotta go find those servants!" He opened his mouth and began towards the door. I breathed out harshly, my eyes glued to the floor. I didn't want to look at the duck. I didn't want to be near him. I didn't want to have another conversation and end up back in Twilight Town.

The doors opened with a loud screech and we ended up in a tiny room. It was claustrophobically tiny. No people though. Instead a clock, a candle stick holder, and a teapot and cup were just sitting on crates.

"You mean there's nobody to rescue?" Donald sounded disappointed. Great, trip well spent, time to go home. I started my way out when suddenly I heard a voice.

"Did somebody say rescue?" A thick accented voice came through the room. Voices, a few, came out of the air, all of which were arguing over whether or not to come out.

"Belle sent us to come find you." Sora called out into the air.

The clock and the rest gained eyes and a mouth and started hopping off the crates. The group gasped, and Sora and I kneeled down to see them. Introductions were made and Donald had grabbed the clock and began to look it over.

"We're glad you're ok!" Sora smiled, now sitting on the floor. I couldn't have imagined ever seeing something so amazing. With short introductions, Donald suddenly thrusted his hands at the clock and picked it up, emitting noises of resistance from it. I couldn't help but smile, seeming like something that happened quite often to the poor thing.

"Did someone put a spell on you too?" Sora's words suddenly perked up the clock.

"Oh Yes! It was the Enchantress!" He said, as Donald had now opened up the little door on his...stomach? I wasn't sure anymore. "Put me down this instance!"

Donald, now looking sheepishly at Goofy, walked over to the crate and set the thing down more gently than I had anticipated. The Clock cleared his throat and with a sarcastic glare, thanked Donald.

"It seems so long ago." The candlestick crossed his arms. Honestly I guess they were arms, but nothing was making sense so I just rolled with it at this point.

The teapot went into a long story, talking about how the Prince of this castle turned away an old beggar woman who was asking for shelter from a snowy night. Now the Prince was unkind to the woman, and while she told him not to be deceived by appearences, he still wouldn't let her in. The Prince was shocked when the woman became a beautiful Enchantress, who promptly turned him into a Beast to match how he was in his heart. Such a story that I never thought I would be able to write in a million years. But it would be a really good idea for a book. Or even a children's story.

The clock looked down. "And to further punish him, everyone in the castle was enchanted too."

"Why would she do that?" I asked, looking to Sora who was looking over his shoulder now, unsure of what to say.

"That, we don't know." The candlestick looked to me with sad eyes.

"Is there anything we can do to help?" Sora asked, getting onto his knees.

Donald's eyes brightened. "Let's get the Enchantress!" It took me a second to process what he was saying, but in this world, how or where would we ever do that. Tacking that off in my head, the candlestick spoke again.

"We know what we must do, but the master is out of sorts..." His words trailed off. I looked puzzled. What did they have in mind?

"It's like he has forgotten how to trust others." The teapot said with a tone that was as puzzled as me.

The word heartless was brought up from the whispering of the objects, and Sora and the others jumped back at the sound.

"Well its a good thing we are here then." Sora crossed his arms and looked to Donald and Goofy. I stood back and when Sora looked at me, I tried to flash him a smile. But I was just as confused as everyone else here.

"Let's go find the beast!" Donald raised his hand in the air.

The objects jumped off the crates, beckoning us to follow them. We walked through the doors and saw the items hopping up onto a few flights of stairs.

"Do you think its gonna be ok?" I whispered to Sora, who I know was trying to smile through it.

"Without a doubt, things always tend to work out well." He gave me a thumbs up.

I sighed, "You are awfully positive about this. Their friend could be a heartless, and things could go wrong in a millisecond and you just stand there smiling."

"Is that bad?" He asked, his smile fading. "We've never let a friend become a heartless, I'm sure it will be fine."

As we climbed the steps, Sora gave me a hand and helped me up. I looked into his eyes and felt my face heat up. Here we go again...

The clock was in front of a few suits of armor, who were not moving even in the slightest. So these things were enchanted too huh? If all the suits of armor have been enchanted in this place, does that mean that if they all went back to being human, then they would have no more furniture and stuff? The thought plagued my mind as the tiny clock called to them to let us pass.

The armor stomped out of the way, and the clock started heading through with the rest of the group in tow. I looked at them as they stopped in front of a large handle in this gigantic room. I looked up at the ceiling, the walls made of stone. The clock stopped and looked at the lever, before jumping up to spin it. His little legs dangled from the lever and I smiled a little. We noticed that a lantern fell from the ceiling, its flame surrounded in a purple and black darkness. Typical on this journey. Darkness was becoming a theme.

The candlestick explained that the flame was enchanted, and they needed to put it out with magic and light. I looked to Sora, who was nodding his head through the whole thing.

"But Cogsworth can not hang on forever." he said. I hurried over to the clock and took a hold of the lever.

"I got this." I smiled and Sora gave me a thumbs up with a grin. "Go take care of those flames. This place is getting too cold for my liking."

"Yes m'am." He saluted and they headed off. The clock affectionately named Cogsworth let go of the lever and dropped to the floor.

I looked at him. "Your name is strange. Did you get that from birth?"

I couldn't tell, but I think the clock was embarassed. "It's my real name."

"How ironic." I said, smiling at him to show I wasn't saying it mockingly. "I know we were introduced earlier, but I am Nina."

"It's a pleasure." He said with a tiny bow. The teapot's little teacup bounced over to me.

"My name is Chip!" He was quite excited for being a teacup.

I grinned, reposititioning my grip on the lever. "You seem really happy right now."

"You saved us! Of course I'm happy!" He bounced in between my legs, making tiny clinking noises the entire time. I felt a little awkward talking to inanimate objects. What was I suppose to say? It was really a strange feeling. As I watched Sora finishing up and heading back to us, I let go of the lever.

"All done!" He rolled his shoulders, as if the job he did was a tough one. I rolled my eyes playfully.

"Such hard work you do, sir." I smiled.

"Aww you know!" He grinned, placing a hand on my shoulder. "I need to keep busy or else I'll lose my muscles."

He looked to Donald and Goofy who were now snickering.

My face crinkled at their laughter. Sora was quick on the draw, asking, "What's are you guys laughing at?"

The two of them immediately stopped and looked to me, smirking. I honestly couldn't have told you why though. At least Donald wasn't glaring at me anymore. Maybe this was the first time I actually felt safe during this whole mission.

"Hurry up!" Cogsworth had now gone a bit ahead of us, with the rest of their friends behind. Me and Sora quickly started walking ahead, listening as Donald and Goofy whispered behind us.

Sora bent his head in my direction and whispered, "What do you think they're talking about?"

I looked over my shoulder. They had both stopped, but I know Sora still expected an answer from me. "I think they were laughing at us."

The pieces fell together in my mind, just like a mystery coming to a close. They WERE laughing at us. For what reason, I was deducing what was said at Hollow Bastion about "young love". Would I really wanna tell Sora what they were thinking? Clearly they were trying to embarrass us. Some friends he had.

I paused and smiled. "I think they were laughing at your comment. About your muscles."

Sora turned around and glowered at them, both of them now looking in opposite directions.

I was sure that Sora would instantly deny any accusations of any chemistry of us. I knew he was a typical teenager. They were either horny as heck or too shy to acknowledge feelings for anyone. But seriously, that thought needed to escape my mind immediately. We knew each other for maybe 3 days. He wouldn't feel that way anyways. Why am I even thinking about it?

Moving on up a set of steps, we ended up in front of a wall. Just a wall. Nothing special.

"Where is the secret exit?" Sora looked to the candlestick.

He pointed with his little arm and we stared at a brick in the wall that was a little more out of place. "Just press that stone in."

Sora looked to me and shrugged, taking a couple of steps over to it and pressing it, immediately bringing a door to life and giving us our exit.

"After you." The candlestick waved us on. We headed up, and as the light hit my eyes, I recognized the area we were in. It was the west wing.

XxxxxX

Cogsworth was the only one who joined us as we made our way straight down the hall, heading to the Beast's room. I wasn't exactly sure what was gonna happen, but I had to make sure I could breathe somehow. At the door, we heard talking from inside. Sounded like someone was saying some very unkind things to him. Who the heck would?

The doors flew open and we could see the Beast. But not just the Beast, a cloaked figure was standing next to him. Organization 13.


	10. Chapter 10

I stayed at the back of the group as Sora and the others strutted into the room without a second thought. I took a deep breath, hopefully not going to regret walking into this.

"She even has accomplices." The cloaked man said snidely. With the snap of his fingers, he disappeared into inky blackness. I closed the door behind me and rejoined the group, who were now before the monster. I only could call him a monster because "friend" wasnt really on his resume with me. I couldn't let go of what happened when we first got here. At least not yet. He had to show me who he really was before I ever call a beast my friend.

"Hey Prince." Sora who looked as if he was ready to slap the thing on the shoulder. But his hand was withdrawn before a mighty roar echoed through the room. I jumped back. Knew it.

Sora pulled out his keyblade and the others got into a ready fighting stance. I joined, noticing the evil energy just radiating off the Beast. Battle ensued. It seemed like a disjointed effort of Cogsworth begging the Beast to compose himself, and Sora slapping him upside the head with his keyblade. I felt like all i was doing was poking him with my spear as the blackness crept up my weapon. I stopped to shake away the darkness. Why was this happening? The energy was just too great. He was a heartless for sure.

It took many wacks to the head to weaken the monster. And suddenly, the Beast collapsed to the floor. Sora, braver than I could ever be, I guess with the trust of his friend, got to the floor to check on him. I could see the blackness disappearing, and looked at the tip of my weapon. It was covered in a tangible dark...powder? Thats the only way i can describe it. I rubbed it off my spear, feeling a cold to the touch sensation left on my fingertips. Wiping them on my pants, I noticed that the Beast had regained conciousness.

"Cogsworth, what happened?" he growled in a tired voice.

Cogsworth seemed to dodge the subject, unsure of how to proceed.

"You threw your friends into the dungeon." I looked on at him, giving him my meanest look. He seemed back to whatever normal was for him.

"I did?" He looked to me, and then to Sora, who sheepishly nodded. The Beast closed his eyes and sighed.

"Who was that man you were talking to?" Sora got off his knee and looked to the group. A flash of realization hit him and he gasped out louder than an actor.

"Xaldin...that's his name." He clenched a tight fist. Did it hurt with those claws? "He used my anger to control. Took everything, my sadness, my pain, and turned it all to rage."

He couldn't tell what he was doing. My face softened.

"That must be why you threw everyone down there in that dungeon." Goofy laughed. "You wanted to make sure you didn't hurt them, right?"

The feeling of relief seemed to hit the Beast's face when he said that. He questioned if it was really protection. I get the feeling it wasn't, but I wasn't about to protest with a creature bigger than me. Especially a man who was only given this happening by pure chance. I started to think, maybe the truth wasn't so black and white. But I wasn't sure. I wasn't prepared to try to answer that myself. The only person who could do it would be the Beast. And I wasn't about to ask.

Maybe he was good inside?

"Belle can see the good in your heart." Cogsworth noted.

The Beast had a realization. He wasn't good to her right now. He hurt her and was a terrible man to her. And yet I could tell she still cared and was understanding and wanted to help him. She might not have said anything, but that didnt seem to matter.

"Why don't you go talk to her?" Sora nudged his arm a little. "No excuses! Let's go!"

XxxxxX

Walking down the hallways made the castle feel big again. I had always dreamed of being a princess when I was younger. My prince would be handsome and strong and ride a white horse and would rescue me from everything. A part of me laughed at how farfetched it was to be standing in the home of a real Prince and learning just what kind of stuff he went through. We talked on the way back.

"Can I..." I asked embarassingly. "Can I see your library when Belle and you have talked? Because she mentioned a library that I wouldn't mind seeing."

"Of course." He said with a...smile? I grinned. "Seems like you and Belle have a bit in common."

"Oh? How so?" I couldn't imagine myself being nearly as beautiful as her. I didn't know what else we had in common.

He put a hand to his chin. "Well you seem smarter than Sora."

The boy stopped in his tracks and made a dead turn in our direction. "I'll have you know..."

I chuckled. "I think he's kidding. Lighten up Sora."

"THAT'S NOT THE POINT!" He echoed through the halls. I walked up to him and pinched his cheek. He made a groaning noise in responsde.

"Don't feel bad Sora, from what you told me, you never really went into high school, its ok if you're a little behind." I grinned.

Sora blushed. "Are you teasing me?"

"Maybe?" I pinched his cheek a little harder.

"That's what else you have in common with her!" Beast grinned a little at the two of us. Both of us stopped and I let go of him. "You give people a sense of security to be themselves around you."

Sora and I both looked at each other and then back to Beast. "What?"

Beast walked to a snickering Donald and Goofy. "If you don't see it now, you never will."

Sora and I looked at each other, and I think our faces went the same shade of scarlet. I hope that there wasn't a double meaning behind that. I don't know why I even got so embarassed. I'm glad Sora could be himself around me. Meant he was a real honest to goodness person that I could trust.

The two of us stayed in silence until we got up to Belle's room. Instead of knocking, Beast opened the doors and let us in. Belle was nowhere to be found. The Wardrobe from the West Wing was standing in the middle of the room.

"Oh Master!" She grinned in a chimie voice.

"Where is Belle?"

XxxxxX

Missing. She left. She was going after the man in the black cloak. Beast got super angry again.

"We'd better go find her." Sora placed a hand on his back and we all quickly exited the room. Immediately outside the door we were bombarded with heartless. So many were just appearing in the hallway. We bashed through them quickly, not even caring about the small fry. We had to find her quickly, who knows what trouble she could get herself into?

Finding our place back out at the stairway, Beast called her name.

"I'm warning you! You'll be sorry!" I could hear her muffled voice from...behind me?

Beast slammed open the big door that lead to a giant room. It had to be 300 feet tall with a giant chandelier in the middle of the ceiling. Cherubs were adorning the chandelier and the pillars in the room made me feel so tiny. We could see Belle running across the room and making her way to a balcony. Before we could even follow her, a GIANT, and I say that in all caps because this thing was about a quarter of the floor sized, heartless fell from the ceiling, surrounding the room in inky blackness that took my breath away. The room got very cold, and i could feel chills running up my spine. When i finally got a good look at it, it looked like a demon covered in thick chains. Everyone had assumed their ready stance, as did I, and we leapt into battle.

The monster was taking control of its surroundings to attack us. The Chandelier, the pillers, the windows, everything was hitting us with brute force. Of course, being someone who was having a difficult time blocking light and dark based magic attacks, I was a bit at a disadvantage. The attacks kept coming and I was already hurting. Donald kept casting curing magic on me, but I was winded. This was nothing like Shan Yu. This thing was a full blown magic attacker and it was killing me to hit it. I could barely get near the thing. I was just trying to destroy what I could while Sora hit it with brute force.

As we weakened it, we thought it was almost over. The thing was exhausted and nearly dying. We were almost done. That was a lie. It transformed. Transformed into a demonic looking dog/lion thing.I didnt know what exactly it was. But I was worn out already. Donald handed me a potion. I knocked it back and felt myself recharge for probably the 6th time this battle. I watched on as Sora seemed so good. But I was nearing my limit. I dropped to the floor and the thing was oncoming. All I could do was put out my spear and hope that an end would be quick, but the end didn't come, as Sora had grabbed me around the stomach and moved me as far away as he could.

I looked up at him, the tiredness in my eyes he could see. He knew I didn't come nearly as prepared for this battle as I should have. All those heartless, all the evil, while it made me stronger and better, it still wasn't helping me.

"You ok?" He asked as he placed me down.

I felt a wave of dizziness hit me, and within a moment of saying, "I don't know", I felt the unconciousness hit me and my head fell to the floor. I was gone.

XxxxxX

I felt the strong sent of a fruit tea hit my nose, which woke me up instantly. I panicked a moment and kicked my foot, knocking it into a hard lump. When I noticed the large lump was Sora's back, and his pained face was eying me, I held up my hands.

"I am SO sorry." I said in a panic.

He rubbed his back tenderly and took a hard breath out. "You're still breathing at least."

I looked around the room. I must have been in an empty chamber because I surely don't remember this room on the tour. "What happened?"

He stood up and handed me a cup, which had a very sweet smelling tea inside. "You passed out on the field."

I blushed. "Oh..."

"You did so much better than I expected though." He flashed me a grin and sat back on the bed again. "Really, I am very much impressed, and so were Donald and Goofy. That was a tough customer and you did very well against it."

"You are just trying not to embarass me, right?" I took a sip of the hot drink. A flavor of honey and ginger slid down my throat and made my back relax. "I took 10 rounds of healing and I wasn't even there for the final blow."

"Well...you kinda were." He laughed a little. "We got the killing blow as soon as you passed out. We didn't have to worry about your safety or anything. We got Beast to carry you to this room in the South Wing."

I opened my eyes a little to see if any damage was done to my body. There was none. Not much soreness either.

"There is a special potion in the tea so that it takes away all muscle pain. You'll be ready to go really soon." Sora's half-lidded eyes smiled at me. He looked exhausted too. Must have been resting while I was too.

"Thank you Sora." I put the finished cup on the bedside table, only to realize it had a little face just like Chip. It remained perfect while I drank. "Thank you little cup."

The eyes popped open and a grin came across it as it hopped off the table and out the door. Sora looked at me and suddenly the two of us started to laugh. The world was weird. With all its weird odds and ends, it was still a wonderful place and I was so glad to experience it.

A voice came from the doorway, that made the two of us turn our heads. "Oh, good, you're awake."

Belle peeked her head in. "Ready to go check out the library?"

Without a moment's thought of whether I would pass out or not, I hopped out of bed. "Ready as I'll ever be!"

"I like your enthusiasm." She grinned. I left Sora behind as I followed Bell down the long hallway. I looked behind to see he wasn't following. I guess books weren't really his thing. A large door stood in front of me when we reached the end of the hall.

"Is this...?" I pointed at the door. it was SO much taller than me. That could only be a good sign.

"The Beast told me this place was mine to have." She smiled proudly. "You are free to look around and take what you like, since we will definitely be seeing each other again."

The door swung open with a loud sound and I could smell the parchement from the entryway. I looked around, totally in awe of the place. There were at least 3 stairways to 3 stories of books. EVERYWHERE books. I was shocked. I had never even believed that libraries could get this big.

"Would you like to see some of my favorites?" She asked. I nodded, unsure of what to say. With that, we were off like a kid in the candy store.


End file.
